Australia beat India by 66 runs in 1st ODI

India made a dismal start to their tour of Australia, losing the first ODI by 66 runs here on Friday.

Electing to bat, Australia posted an imposing 374 for six with skipper Aaron Finch and top batsman Steve Smith smashing hundreds.

   

In reply, ShikharDhawan (74) and HardikPandya (90) scored fifties but India were eventually restricted to 308 for 8.

India skipper ViratKohli on Friday questioned his team’s body language after the opening ODI loss to Australia and said HardikPandya not being fit to bowl is affecting the side’s balance as he doesn’t have enough all-rounders at his disposal.

 India made a dismal start to their tour of Australia, losing the first ODI by 66 runs here, chasing a mammoth 375-run target after Aaron Finch and Steve Smith smashed hundreds for the hosts.

“Everyone needs to show the intent in the entire 50 overs. Probably, we played 50 overs after a long time that could have an affect…But having said that we have played so much ODI cricket that it is not something we don’t know how to do,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.

“I think the body language in the field wasn’t great after around 25 overs. It was a disappointing part. If you don’t take your chances against a top-quality opposition they’ll hurt you and that is what happened today.”

With HardikPandya not yet to fit to bowl, Kohli said it is affecting the balance of the team.

“We have to find out a way to get few overs from part-timers. Unfortunately, someone like Hardik is not ready to bowl yet, we have to accept that, we don’t really have all-round options as such right now,” he said.

“That is an area to be looked at, it is a big part in any team’s balance, someone like Marcus (Stoinis), (Glenn) Maxwell bowling a few overs for Australia helped.”

Kohli said his bowlers couldn’t pick wickets regularly and it allowed the Australians to post a big total in the end.

“The key to winning games is picking up wickets, that is something we were not able to do, also lapses in the field were also a reason why we couldn’t capitalise on any kind of momentum, the pressure that we created in early part of the innings.”

Asked if being in quarantine after arriving in Australia from the UAE affected the performance of the team, Kohli said it cannot be cited as a reason.

“(We) got enough time to prepare. Don’t think there can be any excuses.”

For India, ShikharDhawan (74) and Hardik (90) were the top-scorers.

Talking about the batting unit, Kohli said: “I think we gave ourselves the best chance.

“Hardik’s innings was the best example of that. As a batting unit we committed nicely to positive cricket and we are going to do that in the future as well.”

Winning captain Aaron Finch said he took his time early in the innings.

“Found it reasonably hard to get my timing. Took a couple of chances, got lucky,” he said.

Finch heaped praise on his teammates for their performance despite not being able to train much as a unit.

“We’ve barely been together as a team. Each guy has different strengths and weaknesses. You embrace that. Davey (David Warner), he’s moving beautifully. His rhythm looked outstanding. Smudge (Smith) was different class altogether,” he said.

“Maxi (Glenn Maxwell), the rare ability he’s got to just click his fingers and put pressure on the opposition.”

Australia:374 for 6 in 50 overs (Aaron Finch 114, Steve Smith 105, David Warner 69, Mohammed Shami 3/59)

India: 308 for 8 in 50 overs (HardikPandya 90, ShikharDhawan 74; Josh Hazlewood 3/55, Adam Zampa 4/54)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

four + 17 =