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Indian women's cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur said that the contingent has extracted "lot of positives" ahead of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026, despite the series loss against England on Tuesday.
India lost the series-decider by six wickets on Wednesday, and as a result, England Women clinched the series 2-1. Notably, the fixture served as the final encounter before the Women's World Cup, set to start on June 12. India will play against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 14 in their first group-stage encounter. After the loss against England, Kaur said India were close in the match and felt they were in contention, but could not break the key partnership of Alice Capsey and Heather Knight in time, which proved decisive. She added India has still taken several positives for the upcoming ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026, while being clear about their preferred playing 11 as they remain open to final adjustments through upcoming practice matches in the World Cup, against West Indies and England. "For us it was a case of getting one more wicket. We were in the game, but unfortunately we couldn't [break the stand]. Lot of positives, except for the wicket we were looking for, going forward to the World Cup. [Best XI?] We are pretty clear, still have two more practice games before WC, we can think about other combinations. We have very good players who are sitting out and will have chances, but we are pretty clear on the XI going forward," she said. Coming to the match, England defeated India Women by six wickets in the series decider at Taunton, chasing down 181 to win the three-match series 2-1. India posted 180/5 after being put in to bat, led by Harmanpreet's unbeaten 56, with support from Deepti Sharma (32) and Jemimah Rodrigues (29). England's bowlers, including Lauren Bell (2/36 in 4 overs), applied pressure at the death to restrict India from accelerating further. In reply, England recovered from 38/3 through a match-winning 137-run partnership between Alice Capsey (82) and Heather Knight (70*), which took the game away from India. England completed the chase in 18.3 overs, sealing both the match and the series. (ANI)
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