Mandhana: 'Huge belief in the whole team that we can win from any point'

On a day when Australia posted their joint-highest ODI total, of 412, Smriti Mandhana gave India a strong chance to chase it down with a 63-ball 125. Her 50-ball hundred was the second-fastest in all Women's ODIs.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma made half-centuries from No. 4 and 5, but the chase eventually fizzled out, with India bowled out for 369. India lost the three-match series 2-1.

Mandhana, who also scored a match-winning century in the second ODI and finished the series as its highest run-getter (300 runs), did not feel she was under too much pressure to do the heavy lifting at the top of the order, and rejected the idea that India's batting line-up is overdependent on her.

"Everyone [in the Indian side] is a match-winner - not only [the] 11 but all the 15 who are part of the team are match-winners," Mandhana said. "I never look at anyone thinking that they are adding any pressure on me or anyone, for that case.

"Secondly I have a huge belief in the whole team, that from any point we can still win the match. That is never going to change with one or two results. If you see in the last 12-odd months we've got 300 or 300-plus even when I've got out so that doesn't really say anything about the batting reliance on anyone. Pratika [Rawal], Harleen [Deol], Jemimah [Rodrigues], Harman, everyone's got a hundred in the last 12 months."

Mandhana, India's vice-captain, pointed to fielding as an area India will look to work on heading into the upcoming World Cup. India were sloppy on the field throughout the three ODIs, dropping as many as 15 catches.

"Australia is a great opposition to test ourselves [against] in terms of where we are lacking," Mandhana said. "[...] It was a good series in terms of understanding our strengths and where we are lacking. There's a lot of difference [between the teams] in the fielding. Fielding part is one thing which as a team we are on a rise but we also feel there are days where we look like a [good] fielding side and there are days where we don't.

"That's about how we find the consistency in the team in terms of fielding as a unit and not individual brilliance, but fielding together as a team. That's one thing which we thought we have to address before the World Cup. Otherwise, for everyone, it was just about [getting] the feel of the Indian conditions and how we really want to go forward."

The biggest positive from the series for India, according to Mandhana, was the "willingness" shown by the younger players to improve themselves.

"The series was not like it was going to make us believe that we'll win the World Cup. That belief is always there," Mandhana said. "This series is just for us in terms of understanding what is going right and what's going wrong because Australia is the best opposition to test it out [against].

"We've had a great 12 months at home but we did not play Australia at home in the last 12 months. [We have taken back] a lot of positives, a lot of things in terms of what we want to work on. As long as that willingness to work hard is there, I feel the battle will be won. I see that a lot in the girls - that willingness to win, the willingness to learn and the willingness to grow. It's a young team but the will level is very high."