After India’s loss against Australia in the second ODI after the opposition managed to clinch the win by three runs to have an unassailable lead in the series, head coach Amol Muzumdar spoke to the media as part of the post-match press conference.
One of the highlights of the game was the poor fielding display in the first innings where the Indian side had dropped a total of seven catches through the innings. Muzumdar agreed that their fielding was not good but believed that his side was a work in progress. He said, “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.
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The final over in the first innings was a costly one for India as Pooja Vastrakar managed to concede 18 runs thanks to some brilliant power-hitting by Alana King who managed to get two maximum off the over. Muzumdar however believes that only gave some positive momentum going into the dressing room. The head coach said, “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 look into and improve ourselves going forward, is the death overs, whether it is batting or bowling. We’ll be working hard on that,” said Muzumdar.
During the chase, Richa Ghosh managed to get her highest ODI score of 96 runs but lacked any sort of support from the other end as the wickets kept going regularly. Deepti Sharma who was coming off a fifer in the first innings joined Richa who was batting at 87 runs but could not capitalise on the start she got.
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Muzumdar added, “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.”
Sneh Rana was forced off the field after her collision with Pooja Vastrakar after which the physios applied an ice-pack. Despite her return to the field, she was taken for scans after she complained of having a headache thus led to Harleen Deol being named the concussion substitute. “She had a little bit of a 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.
India will look to redeem themselves in the final ODI against Australia after which the two sides will go to Navi Mumbai to play out a three-match T20I series.
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