Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur of India interact as they bat together against Bangladesh. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur admitted that her side needs to sharpen its fielding after dropping four catches in its latest outing but backed her players to bounce back following the win over Bangladesh in the Women’s T20 World Cup in Manchester on Thursday.

India had hoped to finish the chase of 137 earlier but still wrapped up the contest in 16.5 overs, leaving Harmanpreet satisfied with the overall performance.

“We’ve worked on our fielding but we dropped catches. They are our best fielders, but sometimes it happens. We just need to keep working and keep catching balls so we get into good positions. We have fumbled, but hopefully we show our best next game,” Harmanpreet said after the match.

The India skipper said the team was looking forward to a challenging contest against Australia, describing it as one of the strongest opponents and a side against whom a victory would provide a major boost.

“All set for Australia, one of our best oppositions. We know in these tournaments when every game is a must-win, you have to give your best. We’ll get a lot of confidence if we win that,” she said.

Harmanpreet also recalled India’s previous victory in the ODI World Cup in Navi Mumbai last year, saying the result had helped the side gain confidence and break barriers.

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Opener Shafali Verma, who was named Player of the Match for her attacking 34-ball 53, said she was pleased with her approach and backed her ability to find boundaries against loose deliveries.

“Very happy with the way I batted. Good confidence. I just tried to hit boundaries off bad balls, nothing different. I tried to choose the right ball to go big and take a single if not,” Shafali said.

The right-hander, however, admitted she was disappointed after missing out on a longer innings.

Shafali also added that she remains ready to contribute with the ball whenever required.

“I used to bowl with the new and old ball in the nets. I’m there to do whatever the team needs. Thanks to Harman di for giving me good fields and confidence,” she said.

Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana felt her team failed to capitalise on opportunities despite creating chances and believed it was 15-20 runs short.

“We created a lot of chances but couldn’t grab them, so India took the game away. We bowled well. We were 15-20 runs short. We got a good PowerPlay but couldn’t carry on,” she said.

Published on Jun 25, 2026