Off-spinner Deepti Sharma backed India Women to end Australia Women’s winning streak against them at home “as early as possible”. The Indian team has suffered nine straight ODI defeats against the Australians, including two games in the ongoing series.

Australia clinched a narrow three-run win in the second ODI at the Wankhede Stadium last Saturday to clinch the three-match series, taking an unassailable 2-0 lead. The last time India beat the Australians at home was in Chennai way back in February 2007.

“Look, winning and losing is a part of the game. We have also improved as a team, be it as a bowling or batting unit. So, we’ll try to break their winning streak as early as possible,” Deepti said on Monday, the eve of the inconsquential third ODI.

“There have been a lot of improvements. Earlier, whenever we would play against Australia, the games never used to go that close. This is one positive that we are
able to take it till the end,” Deepti added.

India will be looking to focus on the positives drawn from the second game across departments. “We did well as a bowling unit. The spinners and the pacers fared well to have restricted them.

“At the same time, the batters didn’t do too badly. Their partnerships in between weren’t bad,” Deepti said.

Deepti also praised debutant Shreyanka Patil (1/43) and Richa Ghosh (96 off 117 balls) for their spirited performances in the second ODI. “It’s not easy to perform so well in your first match, which Shreyanka did.

“To speak of Richa, she played fearless cricket which was enjoyable to watch,” Deepti stated.

Having led India’s bowling with a fine spell of five for 38 — her second career fifer — Deepti credited her extended bowling sessions at nets. “I have trained a lot, increased my bowling sessions and also bowled in different phases with the new ball or in the middle overs, or even bowling with the old ball at the death.”