India's star batter Harmanpreet Kaur has been ruled out of the second ODI against Australia on September 24 to be played at Ray Mitchell Oval, Harrup Park. India’s batting coach Shiv Sunder Das during the pre-match press-conference confirmed that the middle-order batter is still not fit and hence will not be available for the second ODI.
“I think right now she is not fit and I think she is not available for the next game,” Das told the media.
The hosts had walloped the visitors by nine wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series, which was played at the same venue on Tuesday. India managed to post a total of 225 for 8 when asked to bat first. Replacing Harmanpreet in the squad, Yastika Bhatia impressed with the bat at No.3. However, she failed to convert it into a big score and departed after scoring 35 runs from 51 deliveries.
Skipper Mithali Raj scored the sole half-century to reach 20,000 career runs. Her strike rate was questioned as she scored 63 runs from 107 deliveries.
Australia chased down the total with nine overs to spare to take 1-0 lead in the series. Rachel Haynes and Alyssa Healy shared a 126-run opening partnership. Healy departed after scoring 77 whereas Haynes went on to score an unbeaten 93. The left-handed batter also shared an unbeaten 101-run partnership for the second wicket with skipper Meg Lanning, who scored 53 runs from 69 deliveries.
