Batter Jemimah Rodrigues has called on the women's cricket team to draw inspiration from Australia and make a strong comeback in the upcoming T20 series following a challenging run in the ODIs. The Indian team faced a significant setback, suffering a 190-run defeat in the third ODI at Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday, leading to a whitewash in the three-match series against Australia – the second such instance since 2018.

Rodrigues acknowledged that playing against a dominant team like Australia provides numerous learning opportunities. Despite the heavy losses in the ODIs, she expressed optimism about her team's prospects in the upcoming T20s. The young cricketer highlighted the need for the Indian team to analyze and implement key takeaways from Australia's performance.

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As the focus now shifts to the T20 format, Rodrigues emphasized the importance of bouncing back and putting up a better show. The upcoming three-match T20I series, scheduled to begin at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on January 5, offers the Indian team a chance to regroup and showcase their capabilities in the shorter format.

“Obviously, there's a lot of learning points. When we reflect back on our own game and also the way the Aussies played, (in) the Test match we completely dominated them, but what I would learn is the way they got back after a fall,” Rodrigues told the media here after the match.

“This is something I can, (and) as a team we can learn, to come back stronger in the T20I series,” she said.

Rodrigues said players have no excuse to give for their horrendous fielding in the last two ODIs, particularly in the second when the host dropped seven catches apart from making several errors.

“I don't think there's any reason we can give because we need to accept what we've done. We've not played to our potential,” she said.

“Especially in the fielding department, a lot of work we need to still continue (doing). We have been working on it, but definitely (it has) not (been) the standard expected for the Indian Women's team.”

“I can assure you that we will work on it and come back stronger,” she added.

Rodrigues also denied that if fatigue, having played eight matches across formats against England and Australia since December 6, had anything to do with India's poor fielding.

“I don't think it has anything to do with fatigue. It's just something we need to really work on. I wouldn't blame anything because we've been getting everything, the practices we want, we're getting under-lights practice,” she said.

“I just can't say it was a bad day because a bad day can't keep coming again and again. But again, I'm telling you, we promise you that we are going to work hard on this aspect,” she said.

Inputs from PTI