Ahead of Women's World Cup, India’s fielding worries pop up once again

New Chandigarh: One of the most heartening aspects of the Indian women’s cricket team’s successful tour of England this summer was their significantly improved fielding. However, on Sunday night at the PCA Mullanpur Stadium, fielding, particularly catching, was subpar and heavily contributed to their eight-wicket defeat to Australia in the first women’s ODI.With the 2025 ICC Women's ODI World Cup in India approaching in two weeks, India hope that their poor fielding performance against Australia was an isolated incident.While defending 281, India dropped four sitters. Jemimah Rodrigues, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, and Pratika Rawal, all reliable and skilled fielders, committed basic errors.“I feel that it was a decent total. We dropped a few catches here and there. Things would’ve been different if we held onto those catches,” India’s Harleen Deol said.

“Because no chances came my way, but under the lights, it’s a bit more challenging than in a day match,” she added.India were also guilty of slowing down the tempo in the middle overs after openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal provided them with the pair's fifth century stand in 15 WODI innings. While Mandhana (58 off 63 balls) showed a positive approach once again, Rawal batted at an extremely slow strike rate of 66.66, consuming 96 balls for her 64-run knock.

The pair added 114 in 129 balls for the opening wicket, but on a pitch and in a format where India needed to bat at a faster clip, the hosts eventually put up a below-par total.

"We were 20-30 runs short. Our bowlers were trying to create opportunities but we were not able to capitalise on them. Those things could have made a huge difference. They played really good cricket. They played better than us but the next game is important, we want to stay positive and look forward to the next game," skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said at the post-match presentation ceremony.Giving her take on why the Indians slowed down in the middle overs, Harleen said, "When we were batting, it initially looked to be a nice track. However, when the ball got a bit older, it was holding up a little bit. There are a few things which we need to work on. So, obviously we'll go back and analyze all those things and get back to it."With the dew coming into play under the lights, India's tactic of playing as many as four spinners and just one seamer in the inexperienced Kranti Goud backfired spectacularly.

While the experienced Deepti conceded 0-59 in 10 overs, young left-arm spinner Shree Charani, who was the Player of the Series in England in the five-match T20I series with 10 wickets, went for 0-55 in 8.1 overs. Left-arm spinner Radha Yadav conceded 0-61 in eight overs, with Rana, who gave away 1 for 51 in 10 overs, emerging as the best tweaker.

Asked about the strategy, Harleen said, "I don't take these calls. It's up to the coaches and captains.

When they took that call, they must have thought about something. Obviously, when things come your way, everything falls in place, everything goes in the right direction. When things don't turn your way, people start questioning those things. So, it's their call and I will obviously back them for that.”According to a source, the whole Indian women's team will attend a dinner at Harmanpreet's residence here on Monday night. Perhaps, the occasion will help the India women's team move on from the pain of another defeat to the mighty Aussies.