Barely a year ago, Steven Smith’s Australia was battered, bruised and buried in South Africa. The Kangaroos were whitewashed in the five-match series, and that seemed like an ultimate low for the once invincible outfit. The same appears to be rolling out now in India as the series has already been sealed within the first three games.
On a belter of a deck at Indore, where even 350 would seem like a moderate total, Australia’s middle order made a complete meal of the start. The blazing ton by comeback man Aaron Finch caught everyone’s eye as the Victorian ravaged the Indian bowling attack.
However, once Finch was dismissed and the move to promote Glenn Maxwell at four backfired colossally, there was nowhere to go for the visitors. In all, Australia couldn’t manage to play even at a run a ball in the last 12 overs. The chase too from India was clinical as Australia always seemed to miss a trick while defending 293.
Post the loss, Australian skipper Steven Smith admitted that Hardik Pandya was simply fabulous for his knock of 78.
“I thought we set it up beautifully with the bat to launch at the backend, but couldn’t get the boundaries,” said Smith. “330+ might have been a different result, but credit to India. Hardik was fabulous and Rohit and Jinks were very good at the top.”
Speaking about the comeback of Aaron Finch, Smith termed that as a positive aspect for the side.
“I thought Finchy was magnificent, it was a great hundred. The pitch was pretty much the same for both teams until 35 overs, it did slow down towards the end. We weren’t good enough to get the boundaries,” Smith said.