Aus W v Ind W: Would want team to take more responsibility, says Harmanpreet

Oct 09, 2021

Queensland [Australia], October 9 : Indian women's cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur stated the team needs to take more responsibility after the loss against Australia in the second T20I of the three-match series at the Carrara Oval on Saturday.
Australian batters held their nerve to beat India by 4 wickets in a low-scoring thriller. The home side chased the target of 119 in the 19.1 overs to seal the multi-format series with one match to spare. Australia won the ODI series 2-1, drew the Test and now this win in the second T20I has handed them the series.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Harmanpreet Kaur said: "We were 20 runs short, but the wicket wasn't an easy one to bat on. We had a good game. We didn't give them easy runs. We fought till the end. Would want the team to take more responsibility."
Put into bat, a brilliant Pooja Vastrakar cameo masked a fairly disappointing show from India. After Tayla Vlaeminck removed both openers inside the first three overs, the Aussies ran riot. It was an Indian innings characterised by poor shot selection and calamitous running between the wickets. But the Vastrakar cameo (top-scoring with 37* off 26) certainly kept them in the contest.
"Pooja has the talent and she gets us runs and wickets whenever we need. That's what we expect from her. We know Australian side is good. You always need to come out with good plans and a good approach against them," the Indian captain added.
Tahlia McGrath was the architect of this win for Australia as she scored an unbeaten 42, opener Beth Mooney also played a valuable inning of 34 for the home side. For India, Rajeshwari Gayakwad scalped three wickets while Shikha Pandey, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma returned with one wicket apiece.