Don’t write off champions: Nathan Lyon on Kohli’s recent batting slump
The Australian team must be hoping to take advantage of Virat Kohli’s prolonged batting slump when the two sides clash in the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy
Post their massive 10-wicket loss to Australia in the first ODI of the three-match series on Tuesday, Indian captain Virat Kohli said that the Men in Blue were outplayed in all the three departments at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
On Tuesday, Australia skipper Aaron Finch and David Warner chased down a mediocre target of 256 runs without losing a wicket after Finch invited India to bat first and bundled them out for 255.
“Totally outplayed in all three departments. It’s a very strong Australian team, and if you don’t play well enough, they will hurt you,” said Kohli in the post-match presentation ceremony as quoted by IANS.
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“In phases, we were too respectful against their bowlers, and didn’t take the game by the scruff of the neck. It’s another challenge to bounce back from here,” he added.
Things hardly went India’s way as skipper Virat Kohli chose to make a change in the batting lineup by giving KL Rahul the coveted number 3 position and himself coming in at number four instead. It meant that he came in only in the 28th over with India having lost Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul and was dismissed after making just 16 runs.
“We’ve had this discussion in the past. Because of the way KL has batted, we have tried to have him bat up in the lineup. We might have to think about this. Every now and then, it’s about putting people up there and testing them. People need to relax and not panic. Today was one of the days it didn’t come off,” said Kohli.
India face Australia next in the second ODI on Friday at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot.
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