India captain Harmanpreet Kaur admitted that her side fell short of capitalizing on a strong start, which led to their three-wicket defeat to Australia in the Women’s World Cup 2025 clash. Despite a solid top-order performance, India lost their final six wickets for just 36 runs, getting bowled out for 330 in 48.5 overs.
“We Missed Runs in the Last Six-Seven Overs” – Harmanpreet
Harmanpreet acknowledged that India’s collapse in the final overs proved costly, especially on a pitch that was far better for batting compared to their previous match against South Africa.
“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. 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,” 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝑬𝑺𝑷𝑵𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐.
“Important: How We Come Back” – Kaur on Regrouping
The Indian skipper emphasized that her team needs to focus on learning from this outing and ensuring better execution in the death overs in future games.
“𝑻𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚, 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,” 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅.
Australia chased down the target with an over to spare, powered by Alyssa Healy’s blistering 142 off 107 balls, which earned her the Player of the Match award. Annabel Sutherland starred with the ball, claiming 5/40 in 9.5 overs. For India, Smriti Mandhana (80) and Pratika Rawal (75) led the scoring, while Shree Charani (3/41) and Deepti Sharma (2 wickets) shone with the ball.
Also Read: Ranji Trophy 2025-26: 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi becomes Bihar vice-captain
