'Mistakes like these cannot be repeated' - Reema Malhotra's advice to India women ahead of Australia T20Is

In a conversation on JioCinema’s daily show ‘#AAKASHVANI’ former India cricketer Reema Malhotra felt Indian team needs to get better at fielding if they want to beat Australia in their upcoming T20I series.

The two teams will play three T20Is in Navi Mumbai on January 5, 7 and 9. Notably, India won the one-off Test before enduring a 0-3 cleansweep in the three-match ODI series which followed.

Excerpts 

On improving their fielding

If you want to beat Australia, then you need to beat them in all three departments. There was a slight problem with India in batting and bowling, but I believe that can still be recovered because India has been playing well and just need to give that final push to win. But I think the main problem is fielding, in terms of fitness, I think this team has significantly improved. We saw them drop a lot of catches in a single game and mistakes like these cannot be repeated. So, I think they just need to believe in themselves, and they will improve.    

On the role of the bowlers in the T20Is

It is a T20I, so the batters need to perform but the bowlers are just as important for India. Shreyanka Patil proved herself in the two matches against England. I don’t think you can keep Deepti Sharma out of the picture, she has been writing her own story and this time she has etched it in gold – she’s in terrific form. Another name I would like to add is Pooja Vastrakar 2.0, the way she performed in the series was brilliant. Her role in this T20I season will be very important to the team. Also, these three players can equally contribute with the bat as well. So a lot is riding on these three to perform in the bowling department.