Image Credit- BCCI
Head coach Amol Muzumdar acknowledged that India’s
failure to capitalise on crucial occasions in the final overs and missed
opportunities cost them the series after Australia won the second ODI by a
thrilling three runs on Saturday, December 30, at the Wankhede stadium.
On a wicket that was favouring the slower bowlers,
Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, and Alana King all took advantage of several
reprieves to make vital contributions that helped Australia reach a formidable
total of 258, which they achieved. India got very close, but they were unable
to seal the deal due to a glut of wickets in the last overs.
Speaking after the match, Muzumdar admitted that
fielding and fitness are areas they need to work on. “We’re in the process
of building it up. There’s no doubt that our fielding was below par today. We
dropped about six 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.”
“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 cannot 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.
“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,” said Muzumdar about the 18-run final over. “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.”