Mithali after India Women end Australia's 26-ODI streak: Depth in batting helped us

India Women captain Mithali Raj hailed her team's performance as they ended Australia's 26-match streak in the One-Day Internationals (ODIs) on Sunday.

The Indian team defeated Australia by two wickets in the third round to end the already lost three-match series on a winning note. Chasing Australia's target of 265, opening batter Shefali Verma and No. 3 batter Yastika Bhati registered a half-century each before tail-enders Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana contributed with 30-odd runs each.

Australia's 26-match winning had started back in 2018 Down Under in a match against India. According to Mithali, it was fitting that it was Team India that have ended the Aussies' incredible run in the 50-over format.

"We are happy that we have won the last game, just told the girls that the winning streak of Australia started in 2018, against India in India and we needed to be the one who broke that streak. We need to put up a A-grade performance, so happy with the victory. It's good to have a little bit of depth in the batting order, we have bowlers who can bat, and that gives us a little more depth in our line-up," Mithali said at the post-match presentation on Sunday.

In the second ODI, Team India ended on the losing side despite putting up 274 runs on the board in the first innings. In reference to that, Mithali, on Sunday, said that the second ODI gave her side confidence ahead of the third one-day in terms of scoring runs.

"We tried some combinations with all-rounders and it worked. Pooja Vastrakar got wickets and Deepti did well with runs and crucial wickets, Shafali was good and Sneh Rana did really well. It was important to bounce back from the second match, that loss hurt us, but it did set up the girls as they knew that we could put up a good score. It was good to chase today, I lost the toss again, think that's a big streak as well (laughs), we are good in that (chasing), but I think the last game gave us confidence going into today's encounter (in terms of putting a score on the board)," added Mithali further in the post-match interview.

India's veteran fast bowler Jhulam Goswami was named the Player of the Match for picking up three wickets and scoring an unbeaten 8 off 7, including the winning runs at the Harrup Park, Mackay.

"We were just trying to take the game till the end, try to stay there and finish the game. We lost the last match by a narrow margin - was difficult for myself as well as the team, but today was a new day, I wanted to keep the ball in the right area and if I did that, I knew I could get breakthroughs. That was what I did. It's important to give your best in the field, take positives and that's what I want to do as a senior. Lots of soreness in my body having played back-to-back games, need time to recover, but we're looking forward to be a part of the first-ever pink-ball Test," Goswami said after India's fantastic victory in the third ODI.

India Women and Australia next face off in a one-off Test at the Carrara Oval, Queensland, starting Sept. 30.