Hobart, Feb 27 (IANS) India captain Harmanpreet Kaur admitted her side had once again failed to bat to their potential, saying the team had set out to post a 300-plus total on a surface significantly better than the one used in the first ODI but had repeatedly undone themselves by making same mistakes again and losing wickets at crucial intervals.

At the Bellerive Oval, Harmanpreet top-scored with 54 off 70 balls, while Pratika Rawal made 52 off 81 deliveries. But India’s total of 251/9 was below-par on a benign surface that offered little assistance to bowlers, as Australia completed the chase with 83 balls to spare, thanks to Georgia Voll’s magnificent 101.

“Well, definitely we didn’t bat well today because as a group we decided that let’s bat first and put a 300-plus total on the board because today’s pitch was far better than the previous one. But unfortunately, we again made the same mistakes and we kept losing wickets in between, and I think that’s why we were short of lots of runs.

“Even though we didn’t play good cricket, still there are so, so many positives. Girls are coming up and showing some good cricket. So I think it’s only about being there and keeping doing the right things again and again. And I think that’s what you have to do when you’re playing international cricket,” said Harmanpreet at the conclusion of the game.

She promised that India will improve on their mistakes in the final ODI to be played at the same venue on Sunday. “As I mentioned, no matter whether we bat first or second, we have to bat really well because whenever we bat well, we’re always in a good situation. I think in the last two games we didn’t bat well, and I think that really cost us. So I think it’s only about batting well and batting deep, and hopefully in the next game we’ll do that,” she said.

Australia captain Alyssa Healy was effusive in her praise for the team’s performance, saying the likes of Georgia and Phoebe Litchfield are the future batting stalwarts of the national team. “I’m really pumped with that result. Like I said the other night, I was ecstatic with the way that we went about that chase and to do it again tonight even better, I thought, was outstanding.

“Sometimes I’ve just got to get out of the way and let the young kids do their thing. That’s the future, right? That’s the future of this Australian cricket team moving forward in that top order. So to see them go about their business tonight, especially Phoebe, the way she took it on early and got herself set and gave us a real opportunity, was outstanding. Kudos to them both,” she said.

Alyssa further mentioned she was very pleased with the bowling effort. “Pretty pleased with that. It was one of those weird ones where I felt like they were well short of a par score, but at the same time it was frustrating for us, and I felt like we could have got them out a little bit earlier.

“But to keep them to 250 on that sort of wicket was just an outstanding effort from our group. We felt pretty well ahead at the halfway mark, we just had to get it done. We’ll just keep focusing on what we can do really well and the little phases of the game that we can win

“We’re doing those little things at the moment, which is great. And especially heading into next week as well, those little key moments are something that we speak about a lot. Nothing changes for Sunday, I’d say,” she said.

Georgia, named Player of the Match for her stunning century, said batting alongside Phoebe had made her job straightforward in the chase. “It was obviously nice to get over the line. I thought Phoebe was outstanding at the other end. Made my job super easy. Just out there having a lot of fun batting with her. And then obviously when Moons came in, sort of kept the momentum going.

“It was pleasing to get the win today. We keep things pretty simple, to be honest. She was sort of smashing them down the other end and I took a little while to get myself in. Once I sort of started feeling the ball nice, I could sort of expand my game a little bit, and then similar with her.

“Obviously it complements each other quite well and we just love batting together. I love batting anywhere, to be honest. I think any chance you get to bat for Australia, you try and take it with both hands. So I’m just sort of trying to take any opportunity I can get and do the best job I can,” she concluded.

–IANS

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