Indian women eye improved batting show
Outplayed in the series-opener, reigning world champions India would aim for an improved batting effort in the second women’s ODI against Australia to keep the three-match rubber alive on Friday. Having won the T20 series 2-1, a below-par India started the ODI contests on a disappointing note, losing by six wickets in Brisbane. The Indian women’s team has never won a bilateral ODI series against Australia.
Australia have dominated the rivalry against India in this format, having won all 11 of the bilateral ODI series between the two sides, including a 3-0 win in late 2024 and a 2-1 victory in September 2025. But India will look to draw inspiration from their five-wicket win over Australia in the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup semifinals. In the lung-opener here, India were not upto the challenge and were bundled out for a paltry 214.
Barring vice-captain Smriti Mandhana (58), skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (53) and Kahsvee Gautam (43), no other Indian batter could produce substantial knocks and struggled against Australia’s disciplined bowling. Opening the batting, Pratika Rawal made a duck, while Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma also failed to rise to the occasion. India would be banking on the quartet to come good on Friday.
Big-hitting wicket-keeper Richa Ghosh, who made 23, also struggled and the team would hope that she provides the much-needed impetus towards the end. On the bowling front, left-arm spinner Shree Charani was the star with figures of 2/41 from her nine overs, but she will look for support from the likes of Deepti Sharma (1/49) and Kashvee in the middle overs.
But the onus would be on right-arm fast medium pacers Renuka Singh and Kranti Gaud to inflict the damage early on, which they failed to do in the series-opener. Trailing in the series, the Indian team management might also be tempted to bring in all-rounders Amanjot Kaur and Sneh Rana.
Senior India all-rounder Deepti hopes to make a strong comeback in the second ODI to draw parity in the series. “As a team we played but the result didn’t come our way. We wil come back stronger in the next game,” she said on the eve of the match.
“We will keep it simple, we are not thinking that much. We are focussing on our strengths.” Australia, on the other hand, will be confident of providing the perfect farewell to their skipper Alyssa Healy, who scored a fine 50 at the top in the last match, by sealing the series on Friday.
Healy and Phoebe Litchfield have been consistent at the top, stitching a half-century stand and they will like to continue in the same vein. The chase was a cakewalk for Australia with Beth Mooney (76) and Annabel Sutherland (48 not out) finishing the proceedings with an 85-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Australia’s bowling too has been spot on with Megan Schutt, Ashleigh Gardner, Alana King, Tahila McGrath and Sophie Molineux all being economical and among wickets. The trophy for the multi-format series, which includes a lone pink ball Test in Perth, will be decided on points, with two points for each T20 and 50-over victory and four for a Test triumph.
Teams (from):
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Uma Chetry (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Kashvee Gautam, Harleen Deol, Pratika Rawal.
Australia: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham.
