India's campaign at the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup came to an end on Sunday after a six-wicket defeat to Australia in a must-win Group B clash. The loss dashed India's hopes of reaching the semi-finals despite a fighting total of 170, built around a captain's knock from Harmanpreet Kaur (56 runs off 27 balls). Australia successfully chased the target with four wickets in hand to seal their place in the knockout stage.
Speaking after the match, Harmanpreet admitted that India fell short of the score they had hoped to post.
"I felt we had a competitive total, but while I was batting, I believed we were still 10-15 runs short. The batters finished well in the final overs, but the players we expected to play big innings couldn't capitalize. Australia's bowlers stuck to their plans brilliantly. We didn't lose too many wickets, but we also couldn't score enough to put them under real pressure," she said.
Looking back at the tournament, Harmanpreet acknowledged that India failed to produce their best cricket against the strongest opponents.
"When you face the top teams in the world, you have to be at your very best, and we couldn't do that. It's something we need to analyse carefully. Dropped catches earlier in the tournament also proved costly. Even today, we stayed in the contest for long periods but couldn't perform at the level we expect from ourselves," she added.
The India captain also stressed that the team must address recurring issues that have affected their performances in major tournaments.
"As a group, we have to improve in several areas. We need better plans against quality opposition. Too often we've been in winning positions but leaked runs at the death, and while chasing, we've struggled to keep up with the required scoring rate. These are problems we've seen for a while now, and it's important that we solve them before the next big tournament," Harmanpreet said.
