NEW DELHI: The Indian women's cricket team was fined 10 percent of its match fee on Tuesday for maintaining a slow over-rate in the third ODI against Australia in New Delhi.

Hosts India suffered a 43-run defeat despite Smriti Mandhana's scintillating 125-run innings, allowing Australia to take the series 2-1 at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Saturday.

The sanction was imposed by GS Lakshmi of the ICC International Panel of Match Referees, as India were found to be two overs short of the required rate after accounting for time allowances.

"In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined five per cent of their match fee for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time," the ICC said in statement.

"India captain Harmanpreet Kaur pled guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing," it added.

The charge was levelled by on-field umpires Lauren Agenbag and Janani Narayanan, third umpire Gayathri Venugopalan and fourth umpire Vrinda Rathi.

This was the last outing for either side prior to the upcoming ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, which is being hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

India kick off their tournament in Guwahati on 30 September against Sri Lanka, whereas Australia begin their run the following day in Indore against neighbouring rivals, New Zealand.