Follow UsAustralia pulled off a record chase in Visakhapatnam on October 12 (Sunday), chasing down 331 in the Women's World Cup, with an over to spare. India did extremely well to post 330, but skipper Harmanpreet Kaur believes that her side fell 30-40 runs short.
India were 394/4 at the start of the 44th over, and managed just 36 runs from the remaining overs. In fact, they were bowled out with seven balls to spare, which also could have played a part in the hosts not getting a few more vital runs.
"The way we started, we thought if we could have added more 30-40 runs on the board, we missed runs in the last six-seven overs," Harmanpreet said at the presentation.
"We kept losing wickets, and that really cost us because today's pitch was totally different. We knew it was a good batting wicket, but those last six overs where we were not able to capitalise really cost us.
"Toda,y the first 40 overs were really good, and in the last 10, we were not executing well. In matches, these things are going to happen, we are not going to be 100% all the time but it's very important how you come back."
India Women head coach Amol Muzumdar agreed with his skipper, stating that his side should have finished better. "Look, in my opinion, the finish is very important in a cricket game," Muzumdar said at the press conference.
"I always say, even in this dressing room, that yes, we need a good start, but we need a better finish. So, if you see the finish that we had in the South Africa game, as far as bowling is concerned in the last five overs, we ended up losing that game. And, even today, basically, if we would have got another 20 runs, maybe things would have been different. But, at the same time, it's been a gradual progress for us. And there are a lot of learnings. I keep talking about positives and learnings. One of the things to learn is to finish well."
India have gone in with five bowlers on batting-friendly tracks and they have struggled to defend competitive totals. They next take on England in Indore, another venue which has a lot of runs to offer. Will India tweak their attack? Muzumdar says they will have a discussion, but Harmanpreet has hinted at sticking with the same combination.
"Obviously, after this game, we will have a look at it," Muzumdar said.
"I am sure the team management will have a proper discussion about this and then we will take a right call as we approach the next game. I am sure about that."
Responding to that, Harmanpreet said, "We'll sit and discuss [about five bowlers] because this combination has given us a lot of success in the past. "Two bad games are not going to make a big difference for us. Going forward, there are a lot of things we need to sort it out and hopefully we'll come up with the best approach."
Despite suffering back-to-back defeats, India are still third on the points table with four points from four matches. They will take on an England unbeaten side next in Indore on October 19 (Sunday).