Follow UsWith there only being five days between the fifth day of the second Test against West Indies and the first ODI against Australia, it was always going to be a challenge for India to get adjusted to the drastically different conditions.
And the difficulty to adjust showed in Perth as the Men in Blue got humbled in the first game, getting dominated from ball one as Australia won by seven wickets without breaking a sweat. This despite the hosts fielding a severely inexperienced side.
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan reckoned that, ideally, India needed to come to Australia earlier than they did and get warm-up matches under their belt to get accustomed to the conditions.
"Whenever you tour such countries, it is always better to go early and play some games,” Pathan said on his YouTube channel, reported Times of India.
“It was going to be difficult for India. It was going to be a challenge as the conditions would not be easy. Our bowlers could not get the right lengths. The batters also had trouble with the bounce.
“If you had played a game or two, these mistakes would not have happened. It is important to think about these things going forward."
Reviewing the game further, Pathan gave his verdict about the disappointing comeback of big guns Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. The pair could only manage 8 runs off 22 balls between them, with Kohli registering an eight-ball duck.
"Fitness is one thing and game time is one thing. That is why Rohit looked a bit troubled. It looked like the demons of the BGT were back for Virat. I hope this is not the case in Adelaide and Sydney.”
But Pathan also pointed out the couple of positives for the visitors from the first ODI.
“KL Rahul batted well today. Shreyas Iyer got into an awkward position. Maybe he can work a bit more on his technique. Axar does well whenever he gets an opportunity to bat ahead,” he said.