3 mistakes India must avoid in the 5th Women's T20I versus Australia

Australia women's team defeated the Indian women's team by seven runs in a closely-contested T20I match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday. With this result, Australia took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the 5-match T20I series.

The series is gone, but India still have a lot to play for. Taking on an in-form Australian team is a great opportunity for the Indian side. A victory in the final T20I would give them a great boost of morale.

On that note, let’s look at 3 mistakes India should avoid in the 5th India-Australia T20I:

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#1 Fielding lapses

India and Australia were the two finalists in the last Women's World T20. Naturally, all matches between the two teams have been keenly-contested, with the exception of the first T20I.

With the margin of defeat being so small in the fourth match, India would rue the chances it missed on the field.

India had a chance to run out Ellyse Perry when she was batting on 12, courtesy of a fine throw from Captain Harmanpreet Kaur. However, the bowler Radha Yadav fumbled, giving Perry her first reprieve.

Following this, in the last over of the Australian innings bowled by Deepti Sharma, Perry was given another reprieve. She smashed the ball straight to Shafali Verma at cover-point who threw the ball towards the bowler.

Sharma failed to collect the ball, thereby squandering a simple run-out and allowing the in-form Perry to return on strike, courtesy of an overthrow. Following this, Perry smashed two sixes. This missed opportunity cost India 15 runs in a span of four balls.

Additionally, India also missed a chance at dismissing Ashleigh Gardner when she was batting on just three. Shafali Verma missed a catch of her own bowling, thereby giving Gardner a life, of which she took full advantage, going on to score a quickfire 42 off 27 balls.

India must avoid these lapses in the field if they are to consistently beat the World No. 1 Australian Team.

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#2 Letting Australia off the hook

The Indian bowlers had done well to restrict Australia to 73/2 in the first 11 overs. It must be noted that with Australian captain Alyssa Healy retired hurt and unlikely to return, Australia were virtually three down.

However, in the last nine overs, the Indian attack looked clueless as they conceded a whopping 115 runs. The Indian bowlers struggled to hit the right lengths as the Australian batters made merry, hitting the bowlers to all corners of the ground.

The Indian bowlers, especially pacers Renuka Singh and Anjali Sarvani, really need to improve on their death bowling.

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#3 Questionable field placements

India conceded lots of boundaries in the deep, towards the vacant third-man, fine-leg, and point regions, especially with the ball swinging early on and India's inexperienced pacers struggling to control it.

The Indian bowlers continued leaking runs in these regions, even after the ball got old, due to inconsistency in their line and lengths. While Captain Harmanpreet Kaur is usually spot on with her field placements, her field set-ups in the last match left a lot to be desired.

Moving forward, she will have to be perfect with her field placements if India wish to end up on the right side of the result in the fifth T20I.