Last Update: March 22, 2023, 23:23 IST
India’s Rohit Sharma at the end of Australia’s innings (AP)
Rohit Sharma said India’s defeat against Australia was due to poor experimentation and failure to build enough partnerships
Adam Zampa took four wickets as Australia beat India by 21 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday to clinch the three-match ODI series 2-1.
Electing to bat, Australia failed to capitalize on a strong start and were bowled out for 269 in 49 overs at a slow pace at Chepauk.
Their bowlers, led by Zampa, did an excellent job defending the total and bowled India out for 248 in 49.1 overs as Australia looked for a way of revenge after losing the four-Test series 2-1.
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Rohit Sharma said that the downfall was due to India’s failure to build enough partnerships and poor performance while chasing a target of 270, which was not much.
India lost a bilateral ODI series at home after four years and it was Aaron Finch-led Australia who outclassed Virat Kohli’s team in 2019.
“I don’t think it was too many runs (269). The wicket was a bit challenging towards the second half. I don’t think we batted well. Partnership is important, and we failed to do that today,” Rohit said at the end of the match.
In fact, what he found disappointing was that Indian players have risen up the ranks by playing on these slow turners.
“The way to get out… You are born and brought up on these wickets. Sometimes you need to apply yourself and give yourself a chance. It was important for a batsman to take the game forward and take the game deep. But we were all trying our best; It hasn’t happened yet.”
However, Rohit feels the nine home ODIs since January have ensured a lot of positives for the ‘Men in Blue’ ahead of this year’s World Cup.
“We can take a lot of positive things from the nine ODIs we have played since January,” he said.
“We need to understand where we need to improve. It’s a collective failure, we can learn a lot from this series. Credit to the Australians. Both the spinners created the pressure and so did their fast bowlers.”
The series defeat is an indication that the Indian team is far from ready for the World Cup and there are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up.
(with inputs from agencies)
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