Shalini Gupta, Chandigarh:
Updated on: Sept 16, 2025 08:44 pm IST
India’s women’s cricket team lost the first ODI to Australia by eight wickets, needing to improve batting, fielding, and bowling tactics for the next match.
The three-match ODI series against Australia did not get off to an ideal start for the Indian women’s cricket team on Sunday. The visitors cruised to an eight-wicket win and in the process showed how professional and experienced they are as a unit.
So, where did India lose the plot in the first ODI? For starters, on a batting track, they needed to score in excess of 300 runs to put Australia under pressure. They ended up with 281/7. The Indian openers, Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana reached the 100-run mark in 17.3 overs but after the latter was dismissed on 58 off 63 balls, they failed to get on with things.
Rawal adopted a defensive approach and eventually top-scored with 64 but took 96 balls to do so with a strike-rate of 66.66 — the lowest out of all Indian batters. Would having a hitter like Shafali Verma at the top help?
The team has decided to back Rawal and the first ODI made it clear that she would need to change her approach.
India would love nothing more to get a win in the second ODI in New Chandigarh on Wednesday. But for that to happen, their fielding and catching would need to take a quantum leap. Even the usually safe fielders — Kaur, Deepti and Jemimah Rodrigues — dropped easy catches in the first ODI. Australia’s Phoebe Litchfield who made 80-ball 88 was dropped twice in her innings.
“Any team can have an off day. We have done well in this department in the past. Whatever we have done well in the first match we would like to carry forward that in the remaining games. We would take positives. Like the batting partnerships we had,” said Deepti ahead of the second ODI.
India would also need to think about their bowling tactics. In the first ODI, the hosts opted for four spinners and one medium-pacer in Kranti Goud. But the attack lacked penetration.
While Kranti and off-spinner Sneh Rana took one wicket each, Shree Charani, Radha Yadav and Deepti Sharma went wicketless.
Australia will not take their foot off the accelerator and India will have to raise their game if they want to end up on the winning side.
