There are a lot of positives from this game – Harmanpreet Kaur on India's loss to Australia

A packed-out crowd in Vizag bore witness to a World Cup clash for the ages as India and Australia played out an absolute thriller, in which India's record total was usurped by the visitors pulling off the highest chase in tournament history.

Runs were aplenty while a few late misses for the Women in Blue cost them dearly. An intense show from Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal upfront laid down a solid foundation while middle-over cameos from Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh helped India to stay afloat.

Indian captain, Harmanpreet Kaur opened up on the game, explaining what could have been different for her teammates. She focused on turning things around while heaping praise on individuals like Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal and N Charani.

Talking about the game at the post-match presentation, Kaur said, “Today the way we started we could have got 30-40 runs, we kept losing wickets in the last 6-7 overs, it was a good batting wicket and we didn't capitalise."

Shedding light on how impressive Mandhana and Rawal were as the opening pair, Kaur added, “Today the way we started we could have got 30-40 runs, we kept losing wickets in the last 6-7 overs, it was a good batting wicket and we didn't capitalise. They have been really outstanding for us from the last few games.”

Adding further about where things went wrong for India, Harmanpreet said, “But today I think the first 40 overs were really good and the last 10 overs we were not executing that well. So I think in a game these things are going to happen. You are not going to be 100% all the time but it's very important how you come back. The next two games are very important and I think there are a lot of positives from this game.”

Explaining how good N Charani was, Kaur added, “She has been outstanding. She's always there whenever the team needs her. And today also she bowled really well. To all their batters, even when Healy was batting, she was not giving her anything easily. So we have a lot of hope from her. Whenever she's there she can keep giving us breakthroughs.”

She concluded with a message for the upcoming games, stating, “We'll sit and discuss (about the team combination). Because this combination has given us a lot of success in the past. I think two bad games are not going to make a big difference for us, going forward a lot of things we need to work it out. Hopefully we'll come up with the best approach.”