Need of the hour: India will also have to catch better than it did in the first ODI.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
The Women in Blue landed in India’s first planned city last week in high spirits. They had made history in England in their last series, but if they had some plans for taming the mighty Australia in the refreshingly green Chandigarh, they didn’t quite work in the first ODI.
Even a competitive total of 281 for seven proved like a walk in the lovely Chandigarh Golf course for the mighty Aussies. That was India’s eighth defeat in a row to Australia in ODIs.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s women should be desperate to set the record right in the second of the three-match series at the new PCA Stadium here on Wednesday. To do that, they will have to play a lot better.
In the first game, they had threatened to go past 300 for the first time against Australia, with the top three making fifties. India needed at least one of them to remain long enough at the wicket to help the side post a big total. Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol should be regretting the way they got out.
Add Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh, and you have a strong batting line-up that should pile up runs on tracks like this. With India’s opening match in the World Cup against Sri Lanka just a fortnight away, all its batters would be hoping to play some substantial knocks.
India will also need to catch better against a side that boasts of such quality, experienced batters as skipper Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath and Ashleigh Gardner and the young talents Phoebe Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland.
Litchfield hadn’t started scoring when she was dropped, in just the second over. She went on to make 88 off 80 balls. She was hardly troubled by the Indian bowlers, nor were Mooney or Sutherland, who both made unbeaten half-centuries.
India’s decision to play with four frontline spinners and just one seamer didn’t work. It would be interesting to see if Renuka Singh, the swing bowler who is returning from injury, will be making an appearance. Her last game for India was last December.
The teams (from): India: Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.), Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh, M. Shree Charani, Sneh Rana and Uma Chetry.
Australia: Alyssa Healy (Capt.), Tahlia McGrath, Nicole Faltum, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Charli Knott, Phoebe Litchfield, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll and Georgia Wareham.
Match starts at 1.30 p.m.
Published – September 16, 2025 07:43 pm IST
