India missing bowling coach: Harmanpreet

Mumbai: The Indian women's team is badly missing a bowling coach, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said after her team lost the third T20I against Australia to concede a 1-2 lead in the five-match series. The captain, though, is pleased with the way bowlers are stepping up and taking charge of the situation.

India don't have a full-time bowling coach as Ramesh Powar was moved to National Cricket Academy (NCA) and Hrishikesh Kanitkar was named the batting coach of the side two months before the T20 World Cup in South Africa. Playing Australia is part of team's preparation for the T20 showpiece. India won the second T20 via Super Over but lost the third game by 21 runs on Wednesday. "I know we are definitely missing a bowling coach but our bowlers are taking charge," Harmanpreet said in the post-match press conference.

"They are participants in the meetings. They have full responsibility and today (it was) all their plans and they were leading the way, I was just supporting them in the middle." India conceded more than 170 runs in each of the last three T20s. Medium pacer Pooja Vastrakar's injury ahead of the Australia series has only added to the team's woes.

"(We are missing) Pooja for sure. On these tracks you need a medium pacer," Harmanpreet said.

"Definitely when you bowl back-to-back spin bowling, it allows opposition batters to settle easily."