Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has suggested areas of improvement for the India Women after their six-wicket loss to Australia saw their campaign in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 come to an unfortunate end.

India put on a total of 170 for 4 after 20 overs, which the team failed to defend as the dominant Aussies romped home with an over to spare. Chopra points out that the team needs to get fitter to help them with their fielding and power hitting. He also added that the batters will need to score much faster, referring to Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma's first-wicket stand of 66 off 55 balls.

Mandhana scored 38 off 37 balls, while Verma scored 34 off 26 balls.

"This team will have to become fitter. There are many factors in fitness. It includes your ground coverage, running between the wickets, and catching, because fitness and fielding go together. Then you need the power as well to hit sixes. If you have to compete and keep getting better in T20 cricket, fitness is my prime priority, and fielding is attached to that. Those are two things you can do yourself," Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel. 

"A little intent will have to be shown in batting. If you leave one or two players, it seems like we are still behind. We don't play with freedom. You lost against both Australia and South Africa because the batting let you down. The intent is not visible. Against Australia, wickets weren't falling, but you weren't hitting. Smriti and Shafali were going at a run-a-ball. No one was trying to hit," he added.

Jemimah Rodrigues was retired out ahead of the final over, scoring 34 off 28 balls. This left India's designated finisher, Richa Ghosh, to face just one ball.

Chopra added that retired outs should be normalised to be a viable tactic in similar situations.

"Secondly, normalize retiring out. What you did on the first ball of the 20th over, you could have done that on the first ball of the 17th over. Jemi's bat wasn't striking the ball well. She was trying, but it wasn't happening, so call her out. It is not a taboo topic. A bold call should have been taken," he said.

Lastly, the former India opening batter urged the Women in Blue to improve their bowling stocks, especially in the fast-bowling department.

Seamer Renuka Singh Thakur had Georgia Voll dismissed in the first over but ended up conceding 41 runs in her four-over spell, as the Indians had to defend a target of 171 from the first innings.

"Thirdly, a little more potency is required in bowling. Sree Charani is outstanding. Deepti Sharma also does her job. Renuka Singh Thakur, maybe a little bit, but the others didn't step up. So we need to search for bowlers. We are way behind in fast bowling. In spin, Shreyanka Patil's injury didn't really help, but the difference is there," Chopra observed.

Australia's chase was anchored by Ellyse Perry, who scored 56 off 38 balls, and Ashleigh Gardner, who scored an unbeaten 53 off 29 balls. The pair stitched a fourth-wicket stand of 100 runs off 59 balls as they took the game away from India's reach.