The Indian women’s team lacked the finishing touch as they messed up in chase after beginning well to lose the third and final T20I against Australia women by 14 run on Sunday.

The result meant the multi-format series between the two teams ended 11-5 in favour of Australia, who won four of the six white-ball games.

Chasing a 150-run target was always going to be challenging, but Smriti Mandhana smashed 52 off 49 balls and shared 57 runs with Jemimah Rodrigues (23 off 26) for the second wicket to set the platform well for India. However, the visitors lost four wickets for 10 runs to lose the plot completely thereafter.

India will find consolation in the fact that they were never really outplayed in the series by their formidable hosts. Mandhana’s glorious form across formats is also a plus for the team.

India head coach Ramesh Powar revealed that Mandhana is being looked upon as a potential leader for the future by the team management.

“We are looking at her as a leader. At some point, she will lead,” Powar said. “She inspires a lot of younger players in the team. Obviously, we rate her highly. The way she batted in the Test was amazing, especially under lights. We knew she would come good.

While veteran Mithali Raj captains the team in Tests and ODIs, Harmanpreet Kaur is India women’s T20I captain.

Powar is happy that the team management could give many of the younger players game time during the series.

“You need characters to win World Cup. We stand at a juncture where Mithali and Jhulan (Goswami) will phase out at some point. We tested young bowlers like Meghana Singh and Renuka Thakur,” said the former India off-spinner.

Brief scores

Australia women 149/5 in 20 ovs (B. Mooney 61, T. McGrath 44n.o.; R. Gayakwad 2/37). India women 135/6 in 20 ovs (S. Mandhana 52; N. Carey 2/42). Australia women won by 14 runs.