India women were knocked out of the Women's T20I World Cup after slipping to a six-wicket defeat against Australia in their final group-stage match. India, deciding to bat, were powered to a competitive total of 170 following captain Harmanpreet Kaur's blazing 27-ball 56. It was a must-win encounter for India in order to advance to the semi-final, but the Women in Blue failed to rise to the challenge to make it all the way. On the other hand, chasing the target, Australia had a stormy start.

However, Ellyse Perry's and Ashley Gardner's 56 and 53*, respectively, launched the side to a magnificent victory with six balls to spare. Both players had stitched a 100-run partnership to demolish the Indian line-up. Meanwhile, following India's early exit from the tournament, former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar shared his views, raising some important questions.

"The Indian women losing to Australia wasn't a big surprise, but it didn't make the day any better (with India's men's team losing to Ireland). They should have beaten South Africa, but so abysmal was their fielding against them that they lost from a good position and were virtually out of the tournament with that loss," Gavaskar wrote in his column in Sportstar.

Gavaskar also expressed whether India played fit players. 

"It's tough to comment from this distance, but the question that most cricket lovers would ask is: did we play all fit players, or were there some who weren't 100%? Playing a player who isn't fully fit is understandable if that player is an impact player capable of delivering, even if not fully fit. Otherwise, it suggests that the reserve players are not good enough to take the injured player's place. Hopefully, I am completely wrong, but to see players playing with bandaged fingers does give the impression that they are carrying an injury, even if it may be a minor one," he wrote.

"The other aspect that was noticeable is that, despite the 50-over win and the other matches where runs against the spinners were regularly taken over extra cover, there was no attempt to cover that gap with a fielder and make the batters attempt lofted shots with an open face of the bat," Gavaskar wrote.