India suffered a 21-run defeat at the hands of Australia in the third women’s T20I at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday (December 14).

Chasing 173 to win, the Women in Blue were restricted to 151/7 in 20 overs. It was a disappointing batting effort as some Indian batters got starts but failed to take the team over the finishing line. Shafali Verma was the top scorer with 41-ball 52.

With this defeat, the hosts conceded a 2-1 lead to Australia in the five-match T20I series.

After the game, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur attributed the third T20I loss to their inability to rotate strike.

"Yes, definitely, getting them on 170-odd runs, we really thought we were in with a chance," Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation.

"But I think there were few overs where we scored less than 6 overs, that cost us. We had lot of dot balls after hitting boundary, we need to rotate strike, but that didn't happen.

"One of us wanted to stay till the end, but we had to hit boundaries and sometimes you lose wickets when you play like that. We have a deep batting line-up now so it's not like we have to keep thinking about someone playing till the end."

The Indian captain also praised the bowling effort of Anjali Sarvani (2-34) and Renuka Singh (2-24).

"Yes definitely, the way they are taking responsibility and playing for the team is outstanding to watch. We are impressed with how they are bowling."

On the other hand, Australia captain Alyssa Healy said: "Tonight, the top order sort of got out of the way and the middle order came and did an amazing job.”

"The impact that Harris had was remarkable and I thought Ellyse Perry played an outstanding knock. Very proud of the batting group."

The fourth T20I will be played at the same venue on Saturday (December 17).

(With PTI inputs)