Rohit and Kohli’s return to form a matter of 25-30 deliveries: Nayar
India’s assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, however, thinks that the duo’s return to their best is a matter of regaining confidence and composure in the initial phase of their innings.
Indian captain Virat Kohli was disappointed by his team’s performance after they lost to Australia in the first ODI of the three-match series in Sydney. He pointed out that poor fielding hurt India’s chances.
Kohli was critical of team’s “body language after 25-26 overs” as Aaron Finch and Steve Smith took the attack against Indian bowlers and smashed quickfire centuries to take Australia to a massive total of 374/6
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“The body language after 25-26 overs was disappointing. A quality side will hurt you (if you have fielding lapses),” Kohli said at the post match presentation.
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The India skipper also believed that the team missed an additional bowler as Hardik Pandya is not yet fit to bowl a few overs here and there. He felt it gave Australia an advantage.
“Unfortunately, Hardik is not fit enough to bowl, and we don’t have other all-round options to pick from either, someone like Stoinis or Maxwell,” Kohli said.
However, the 32-year-old was somewhat satisfied with how his team approached to chase Australia’s gargantuan total. He said the batting unit played “positive cricket”, even though they fell short by 66 runs.
“As a batting unit we committed nicely to positive cricket and we are going to do that in the future as well,” Kohli added.
Though there was a rearguard action from Hardik Pandya, who got his highest ODI score (90 off 76 balls) and added 128 runs for the fifth wicket with opener Shikhar Dhawan (74 off 86), Australia’s total, their highest against India in one-dayers, proved too daunting. India finished at 308 for eight wickets in 50 overs.
Earlier, skipper Aaron Finch and Steve Smith scored centuries to lead Aussie charge, after Australia won the toss.
Finch made 114 from 124 deliveries with the help of nine 4s and two 6s while Smith scored 105 off just 66 balls — with 11x4s and four 6s — as the hosts took heavy toll on hapless Indian bowlers who had no option to fall back on.
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