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Internet Desk: Australian skipper Steve Smith is of the opinion that failure to execute plans has resulted in his side to lose the opening ODI match of the India Vs Australia at Chennai and has claimed that they will return stronger in the next game.
“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.
“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.
Chasing a revised target of 164 in 21 overs under the D/L method, the Aussies fell short by 26 runs. Smith admitted that game changing innings was played by MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya.
Pandya and Dhoni stitched 118 runs together for the sixth wicket to scrip a brilliant recovery act for India after the top-half was blown away for only 87 runs.
“They (Pandya and Dhoni) put a 120-odd and took them from 87 to 206. In the end, that proved to be a match-winning partnership. We started very well with the new ball but MS (Dhoni) and Hardik (Pandya) played very well,” he said.
He rued about some of the mistakes his side committed, including a dropped catch by himself. “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),” said the Australian captain.
Smith said the plan was to bowl Pat Cummins at the end but had to change it as the innings progressed with Dhoni batting well towards the end. “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.
He said he had given a thought of changing the batting order but felt that it was an opportunity for Hilton Cartwright to have a go. Smith hoped the all-rounder would find his feet and score runs in the games to come.