Jemimah Rodrigues on Tuesday urged the India women's cricket team to take a leaf out of Australia's book and bounce back in the upcoming T20s after being hammered in the ODIs.
India suffered their third heaviest loss by 190 runs in the third ODI in Mumbai on Tuesday at the Wankhede Stadium to be whitewashed in a three-match series for the second time by Australia since 2018.
Rodrigues said while there were a "lot of learning points" from a team as dominant as Australia, she also hoped for better returns for her team in the shortest format.
A three-match T20I series will be played at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai starting January 5.
“Obviously, there's a lot of learning points. When we reflect back on our own game and also the way the Aussies played, (in) the Test match we completely dominated them, but what I would learn is the way they got back after a fall,” Rodrigues told the media after the match.
“This is something I can, (and) as a team we can learn, to come back stronger in the T20I series,” she said.
At the post match presentation, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said her team needs to field better.
"We always discuss about the Australian fielding, because skill wise we believe we are really close. Fielding is something that has been bothering us, and we need to think about that and do well in the future.
"When we are playing red ball, we have a lot of time to think and execute. But in white ball, you don't have that kind of time. We are doing a lot of hardwork, but now we need to focus on T20s and take a few positives from this series," said Harmanpreet.
Rodrigues too said players have no excuse to give for their horrendous fielding in the last two ODIs, particularly in the second when the host dropped seven catches apart from making several errors.
“I don't think there's any reason we can give because we need to accept what we've done. We've not played to our potential,” she said.
“Especially in the fielding department, a lot of work we need to still continue (doing). We have been working on it, but definitely (it has) not (been) the standard expected for the Indian Women's team.”
“I can assure you that we will work on it and come back stronger,” she added.
Rodrigues also denied that if fatigue, having played eight matches across formats against England and Australia since December 6, had anything to do with India's poor fielding.
“I don't think it has anything to do with fatigue. It's just something we need to really work on. I wouldn't blame anything because we've been getting everything, the practices we want, we're getting under-lights practice,” she said.
“I just can't say it was a bad day because a bad day can't keep coming again and again. But again, I'm telling you, we promise you that we are going to work hard on this aspect,” she said.
India were also outmatched in the power-hitting game with Australia pumping in 16 sixes across three ODIs while the hosts managing a mere three — another area of concern that Rodrigues admitted the team has to work on.
"It depends on player to player. I cannot hit as many sixes at will but I can hit as many boundaries at will and I can run well between the wickets,” she said.
“You might see many more sixes in the T20s but obviously every player looks to improve and I have been working a lot on my power-hitting game but again, it depends on the role that you're also given in the team,” she said.
“We have finishers. We have players who have different roles. It depends on the format too. But definitely, that is something we've been working on,” she added.
Australia's Phoebe Litchfield, who followed up her twin fifties in the first two games with 119 to set up a big win in the third match, said her side will be on guard against India's rise in the shortest format.
“It's going to be an awesome series. India (are) definitely knocking down the door for the top spot in the T20s and we're keen to hopefully win some more games,” said Litchfield.
