The Indian women’s team will look for an improved show in the fielding department to complement its fine bowling when it takes on Australia in its second game of the Tri-series here on Sunday.
India beat England by five wickets in the tournament opener on Friday.
India put up a fine bowling performance, led by the spinners, to restrict England to 147, which was followed by a match-winning unbeaten 42-run knock by skipper Harmanpreet.
Good form
The top four — Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmapreet — were all among the runs, but the middle-order, comprising Veda Krishnamurthy and Taniya Bhatia, struggled.
However, India was far from impressive when it came to fielding with Harmanpreet, Jemimah and Veda dropping catches, apart from misfields, and the side will will look to quickly make amends.
Happy for youngsters
“I’m really happy that our young players could play with freedom. We have to work hard on our fielding. We need to improve,” Harmanpreet had said after the match.
Defending T20 World champion Australia, on the other hand, will be desperate to bounce back after going down to England in a thrilling game that was decided via Super Over on Saturday.
Neither the Australian bowlers nor the batters, except Beth Mooney, could make much of an impact on Saturday.
The Australians will also take confidence from the fact that India had lost both its matches against them in the tri-nation series in 2018.
The teams: Australia: Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner, Meg Lanning (Capt.), Ellyse Perry, Rachael Haynes, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Megan Schutt, Nicola Carey, Sophie Molineux, Erin Burns and Tayla Vlaeminck
India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.), Veda Krishnamurthy, Taniya Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Arundhati Reddy, Harleen Deol, Nuzhat Parween and Poonam Yadav.
