'Our fielding was below par', admits Amol Muzumdar after series loss to Australia

MUMBAI: India women's team head coach Amol Muzumdar admitted the team had a below-par showing in the fielding department during their three-run loss to Australia in the second ODI and added that it is an aspect of the game which is still a work in progress for them.

Saturday’s defeat also meant that Australia have taken an unassailable 2-0 series lead, as the visitors’ maintained their record of not losing an ODI series in India.

At the Wankhede Stadium, India could have easily restricted Australia to a 200-ish score. But seven dropped catches and a lot of misfields meant they made 258 on a dry pitch. Phoebe Litchfield (63) was dropped thrice, while Ellyse Perry (50) was also given a reprieve and chances of taking out Alana King (28) were shelled twice.

"We're in the process of building it up. There's no doubt that our fielding was below par. We dropped about six (seven) catches. It always happens in a game. Even they dropped a few. But having said that, we still are a work in progress. If we get time post this series, I'm sure we'll try to spend a lot of time on fielding and fitness," said Muzumdar in the post-match press conference.

In their bowling innings, India didn’t have a great ending as Pooja Vastrakar conceded 18 runs in the final over. "I think that didn't tilt the balance but I thought that just gave the momentum to Australia a little bit going into the dressing room. That's one area where I feel we need to have a look in and improve ourselves going forward, is the death overs, whether it is batting or bowling. We'll be working hard on that," said Muzumdar.

In the chase of 259, Richa Ghosh made a fabulous career-best 96, but didn’t get much support from other batters. Deepti Sharma, who had taken a five-wicket haul in the first innings, came out to join Richa when 87 runs off 86 deliveries were needed. But Deepti struggled to get going, making 24 off 36 balls, including hitting one boundary.

"At the end of the day we can all sit and say 'oh, we missed out by three runs'. But there were about 600 balls bowled in that. So we can always go back and talk about it in hindsight. Yes, we fell short by three runs but I would like to not name anyone for the defeat. It's just a collective effort. Probably just one more shot or one more stop in the field could have done the trick," added Muzumdar.

Sneh Rana had gone off the field after colliding with Pooja while fielding in the 25th over, with the physio applying ice pack on her head. Though she came back to bowl and had figures of 1-59, Sneh was taken for scans due to headache complaint, with Harleen Deol named as a concussion replacement.

"She had a little bit of headache post the first innings. We felt it was appropriate for her to do the scan. The reports have been fine and she is back in the dressing room. She is still having a little bit of a headache, but that's normal. Yes, she is available for the third match," concluded Muzumdar.