Australia failed to execute their plans properly, feels Smith
Chennai, Sep 18 (IANS) Australia could not execute their plans properly during the first One-Day International (ODI), which they lost by 26 runs via Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-truncated match against India here, skipper Steve Smith said.
India on Sunday rode on half centuries from all-rounder Hardik Pandya (83) and former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (79) to post 281/7.
Due to rain, the target for Australia was revised and the visitors needed 164 in 21 overs to win. India restricted Australia to 137/9 to clinch the first ODI.
“Would have been nice to have won the game. But it’s the first in a five-match series and four (games are) left in the series. Would need to win three to win the series. (We) got to come back hard in a couple of days’ time. It did not work out as we would have liked. Hopefully, we would turn things around in Kolkata,” Smith said at the post-match press conference on Sunday.
“The rain came and it was obviously never going to be easy chasing 160 with the new balls. We could have perhaps played a little bit differently and try to take a little bit more time upfront. We have to get better with our plans,” he said.
Smith rued some of the mistakes his side committed, including a dropped catch by him.
“It’s not ideal. You always want to take catches. I obviously dropped an early one and one that sort of yorked me. It was not ideal that we were not able to capitalise on what was a very good start (for us),” he said,
The Aussies planned to bowl Pat Cummins at the end but with Mahendra Singh Dhoni batting well, had to change plans.
“I had my plan to begin with Coulter-Nile and finish with (Pat) Cummins. But when they (India) lost Hardik, I thought Nathan could have come back and I wanted to go for the throat.
“Obviously, MS hit Jimmy pretty well in the end. Was not ideal but that’s cricket. MS is a quality player and dangerous at the end,” he added.
Smith also hoped opener Hilton Cartwright would find form in the games to come.
“I did think about it. But I thought it was a good opportunity for Hilton to get into the game. It was probably the hardest time to bat with the new ball. It did not come off tonight. Hopefully he (Cartwright) can rectify and score some runs a lot more,” he said.