India captain Harmanpreet Kaur admitted her side failed to deliver against the strongest teams after their Women's T20 World Cup 2026 campaign came to an end with a six-wicket defeat to Australia. The loss knocked India out of the tournament and extended their wait for a maiden T20 World Cup title.
Despite posting a competitive total, India were unable to stop the six-time champions, who completed the chase thanks to match-winning knocks from Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner.
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Harmanpreet Kaur reflects on India's shortcomings
Speaking after the defeat, Harmanpreet felt India had enough runs on the board but admitted the team failed to produce its best cricket against the tournament's top sides.
The Indian skipper stressed that her side needs to reassess its approach against stronger opponents.
"If I have to think about the entire tournament, we didn't do well against good teams. Against the best teams always your best comes. I think we need to rethink about that."
She also praised Australia's disciplined bowling while acknowledging India fell short of expectations despite staying in the contest for long periods.
"They're one of the best. I think they bowled according to their plans. We didn't lose wickets, but at the same time we didn't get what we were expecting. It was a good game but unfortunately we didn't get over the line."
Harmanpreet further admitted that recurring issues have continued to hurt India in major tournaments.
Perry and Gardner power Australia into the knockout stage
After winning the toss, Harmanpreet opted to bat first. Openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma stitched together a 66-run opening partnership before Verma fell for 34 off 26 balls on the first delivery of the 10th over.
India continued to build through useful contributions from Mandhana (38 off 37), Jemimah Rodrigues (34 off 28), and Harmanpreet, who top-scored with an aggressive 56 off just 27 deliveries to help the team post 170 runs. Australia captain Sophie Molineux was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets.
Australia's chase got off to an early setback after Georgia Voll departed with just four runs on the board. Beth Mooney (22 off 20) and Phoebe Litchfield (24 off 25) steadied the innings before Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner completely shifted the momentum.
Perry struck a fluent 56 from 38 balls, while Gardner remained unbeaten on 53 off just 29 deliveries. Their 100-run partnership guided Australia to a comfortable six-wicket victory, with Perry earning the Player of the Match award.
The result kept Australia's unbeaten run intact, registering their fifth consecutive win of the tournament while ending India's hopes of lifting their first Women's T20 World Cup trophy.