Indian police have arrested a man accused of stalking and inappropriately touching two Australian cricketers participating in the ICC Women’s World Cup in Madhya Pradesh, officials said on Saturday.

The incident happened in the central Indian city of Indore on Thursday morning when the two players left their hotel to go to a cafe, a day after Australia’s six-wicket victory over England in the group stage of the World Cup, when they were allegedly approached by a motorcyclist.

“The security officers of the women’s Australian cricket team filed a complaint that two members of the team faced inappropriate behaviour,” additional deputy commissioner of police, Rajesh Dandotiya, told Indian news agency ANI.

“A FIR (first information report) was registered, and the accused was identified and arrested following an intensive strategic operation.”

He has been charged under sections 74 and 78 of the criminal code that deal with assault or using criminal force against a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty and stalking, respectively. “We are examining if there were any shortfalls in the security protocols,” Dandotiya added.

Violence against women remains a chronic issue in the world’s most populous country, where an average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022.

Dandotiya said the 30-year-old man who was arrested has a criminal record.

The two players were not identified by Indian police or Cricket Australia, which confirmed the incident.

“The matter was reported by team security to police, who are handling the matter,” Cricket Australia said in a statement.

Board of Control for Cricket in India Secretary Devajit Saikia said it was a “deeply regrettable and isolated incident.

“We appreciate the swift and effective action taken by the Madhya Pradesh Police in apprehending the accused. The law will take its due course to ensure justice is served,” Saikia said.

“We will also review our existing safety protocols and strengthen them further, if necessary, to ensure such incidents are not repeated.”

The Times of India newspaper reported that the team’s security manager received a distress message from one of the cricketers that said “… there is a guy following us trying to grab us”.

Team officials were informed and went to their location to assist the players, the paper said.

A police patrol then escorted the players safely back to the team’s hotel.

India has made strides towards gender equality and women’s empowerment in recent years but safety for women remains a serious concern.

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Two members of the Australian Women’s World Cup cricket team were reportedly “touched inappropriately” while walking in India, ABC News reported on Saturday.

In a statement, Cricket Australia said the duo were walking to a cafe in Indore when they were approached by someone on a motorcycle, the news outlet added.

India are one of the two co-hosts of the ICC Women’s World Cup, along with Sri Lanka.

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Chasing a modest 237 to win, the visitors reached their target easily with 69 balls to spare at a sold-out Sydney Cricket Ground.

Rohit top-scored with an unbeaten 121, but the biggest roar was for Kohli, who made ducks in the first two games won by Australia at Adelaide and Perth which clinched them the series.

This time he was back to his best with a fluent 74 not out.

Like Rohit, he has retired from Test and T20 duties and with no more ODI series scheduled Down Under before the 2027 World Cup it was almost certainly their final innings on Australian soil.

“I don’t know if we’ll be coming back to Australia, but it was fun all these years that we played here,” said the 38-year-old Rohit.

“You know, a lot of good memories, bad memories. But all in all, I’ll take the cricket that I played here.”

India made a confident start to the chase after Mitchell Marsh won the toss and batted first only for Australia to be bowled out for 236.

Rohit and Shubman Gill put on 69 before Josh Hazlewood enticed a faint edge from the Indian captain.

That brought the 36-year-old Kohli to the crease and he and Rohit set about knocking off the runs quickly.

Rohit was almost flawless in reaching a 33rd ODI ton, with 13 fours and three sixes in his 121, while Kohli brought up a 75th half-century to steer them home.

“Going out there and having a situation is always something that brings the best out of me and when Rohit is batting it’s pretty easy to kind of rotate the strike, we know each other’s game pretty well,” said Kohli.

“We want to say thank you, we’ve loved coming to this country,” he added. “We’ve played some of our best cricket here so thank you very much.”

Earlier, Australia were ticking along nicely at 183-3 but lost their last seven wickets for just 53.

Harshit Rana did the damage with 4-39 while Matt Renshaw top-scored with 56.

Marsh and Travis Head made a watchful start but once they got their eye in the runs started flowing.

Head looked dangerous, hitting six fours in reaching 29 off 25 balls, passing 3,000 one-day runs en route. But he failed to control a cut shot off Mohammed Siraj and was caught at backward point.

Marsh was bowled for 41, confounded by the spin of Axar Patel, and when Matt Short (30) fell to Washington Sundar Australia were 124-3 after 23 overs.

Shreyas Iyer pulled off a sensational backpeddling catch to remove Alex Carey (24) and it sparked a collapse.

Renshaw reached a maiden ODI half-century, but with the runs drying up he charged at Sundar and was trapped lbw, before Mitchell Owen departed for one and Mitchell Starc for two leaving Australia in trouble at 201-7.

Cooper Connolly made a late 23 but the tail failed to wag.

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