NEW DELHI: After producing a resounding turnaround to beat Australia by 102 runs in the second ODI in New Chandigarh on Wednesday, India will be aiming to do an encore of that result when they take the field for a tantalising series decider, to be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
The series decider will also mark the first women’s ODI to be played in the national capital after a long gap of 29 years, 10 months and 10 days. Following Wednesday’s commanding victory, expectations are high for India to clinch their maiden bilateral ODI series win over Australia.
The hosts, though, will remain wary of the visitors’ proven ability to bounce back under pressure after crushing defeats. Coming to India, the 102-run victory brought renewed energy and smiles to the hosts’ camp, as Smriti Mandhana’s sublime 117 coupled with the six bowling options strategy helped India get their first home ODI win over Australia after 18 years.
Despite not much sizeable contributions from other batters and recurring dropped catches continuing from the opening game, Smriti anchored the innings well through her 117 off 91 balls laid the foundation for India posting 292 on board, the highest they ever posted against Australia in the format.
But it was the bowling unit that truly turned the tide, with spinners, a returning Renuka Singh Thakur and Kranti Goud striking early and often to bowl out Australia for 190, and give reigning world champions their heaviest defeat by runs in women’s ODIs.
What also worked well for India was going away from five-person bowling attack, four of them being spinners, in the series opener to going for an extra bowler and boosting seam-bowling resources. Combined with smart fielding placements, India managed to apply pressure from the powerplay and never let Australia run away with the game.
But with Renuka seen walking off the field mid-way in the 18th over and didn’t come back to bowl, it was again a reminder of India needing to carefully manage her, especially with a World Cup on the horizon. Whether she plays the game on Saturday or not remains to be seen.
India will also want for the middle order to stitch crucial partnerships and for the fielding unit to put up a way better show. In this series, India have dropped ten catches while taking eight chances. In ODIs in 2025, India have taken 47 catches while dropping 33 chances. It has meant their catching efficiency stands at 58.7%, which ranks 12th out of 14 teams.