Not batting well in last two games cost India: Harmanpreet Kaur

Harmanpreet Kaur attributes India's recent ODI losses to poor batting performance and missed catch opportunities against Australia.

India women's team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on Friday (February 27, 2026) conceded that poor batting in the first two ODIs against Australia led to consecutive defeats in their first 50-over assignment since becoming world champions last November.

India made a bright start to pip Australia 2-1 in the T20Is but lost the first two ODIs with one match left to be played on Sunday. The two teams, engaged in an all-format series to be decided over points, will also play a one-off Test.

India posted 251/9 batting first, riding on fifties from Harmanpreet (54) and Pratika Rawal (52), but the visitors paid a heavy price for dropping multiple catches as Australia won by five wickets and 13.5 overs to spare in second ODI.

"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," Harmanpreet told the broadcaster after the match.

"But unfortunately, we again made the same mistakes and we kept losing wickets in between, and that's why we were short of lots of runs."

"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. In the last two games we didn't bat well, and that really cost us. It's only about batting well and batting deep, and hopefully in the next game we'll do that," Harmanpreet added.