'Gave them a tough series' - Harmanpreet Kaur dissects series loss to Australia ahead of 2025 Women's World Cup

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaurcomplimented her team for the way it played during the recently-concluded three-match ODI series against Australia at home. Harmanpreet complimented the manner in which spin-bowling all-rounders Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana batted. However, she regretted the fact that the standard of fielding was not up to the mark.

Notably, India will co-host the upcoming Women's World Cup along with Sri Lanka and the recent series gave the team an opportunity to fine-tune their preparations

for the mega event.

"Not liking the fact of being on the losing side. But throughout the series, we played good cricket. Lot of learnings for us. The way Deepti and Sneh also batted, even the last game how Sneh batted, that shows we have depth in our batting and can play our shots. Fielding is something we're really working hard. Unfortunately, we're still missing those chances," stated Harmanpreet during the post-match ceremony.

She spoke on the plenty of options the Indian team boasts of. Harmanpreet concluded by conceding that the Women in Blue offered a stern challenge to the defending champions of the Women's World Cup.

Lot of positive takeaways and learnings. You're always asking me about our combination. Good thing is we have so many players now and we can try a lot of combinations. The World Cup is a long tournament and it's about whoever is best for the particular day. Was a good series. We gave them a tough series," she added.

Harmanpreet did not have an impressive series with the bat. Barring her 35-ball 52 in the third and final ODI, she registered scores of 11 and 17 in the first two games. Meanwhile, Smriti Mandhana was awarded the Player of the Series accolade for scoring 300 runs at a strike rate of 138.24. Kranti Goud was the joint-highest wicket-taker with five wickets in three innings at an economy rate of 5.83.