It wasn't a 117 wicket, admits Rohit Sharma

After having to sweat it over a run-chase of 189 runs in Mumbai, India were expected to put up a convincing performance in Vishakapatnam on Sunday but things went horribly wrong for the home side. Bolstered by the return of Rohit Sharma, instead of showing their batting prowess, India conceded their fortune to a firing Mitchell Starc, bundling India out for 117 runs. 

For Australia, it was a walk in the park, as Mitchell Marsh continued his form from the first ODI to smash a 36-ball 66 and eventually guided Australia to win in just 11 overs. The thrashing was difficult to digest for Rohit Sharma but he stayed away from criticising the wicket, calling his team’s batting an abject failure.

“If you lose a game, it is just disappointing. We didn't apply ourselves with the bat. Didn't put enough runs on the board. It wasn't a 117 wicket,” Rohit said in the post-match presentation. “Kept losing wickets and that didn't allow us to get the runs we wanted. Once we lost Shubman in the first over, myself and Virat got 30-35 runs quickly. But then I lost my wicket and we lost a couple of wickets back to back. That put us on the back foot.”

After India were down to 49/5, the rebuilding job was on Virat Kohli but he was soon dismissed to leave the home side in a bad situation. With Starc breathing fire from the other end, the lower order could hardly elongate the innings and Rohit admitted that it was tough to return from that situation.

“It's always tough to come back from that situation. Today wasn't the day for us. Starc is a quality bowler. He has been doing it for Australia with the new ball. He kept bowling to his strength. Swung the new ball and took the odd ball away. Kept the batters guessing. Marsh has to be one of the top players going around when it comes to power-hitting. He backs himself to doing that every now and then. Definitely in the top 3 and 4 when it comes to power-hitting,” the Indian skipper added.

With the series now being locked 1-1, the Chennai ODI, to be played on March 22, has become the decider.