Follow UsIndia’s new ODI captain, Shubman Gill, had to deal with a series defeat straight-up under his captaincy as India lost the first two ODIs of the three-match series against Australia.
Speaking after the end of the second ODI, Gill, who scored 10 and nine in the first two matches as ODI captain, did not go after the batters, but rather the fielders, as the reason for the loss in the second game, which was a must-win to stay alive in the series.
“We had just enough runs on the board. Never easy when you drop a couple of chances to be able to defend that kind of total,” Gill said, indicating towards the dropped chances, two of which were against Matthew Short, who was dropped on 23 by Axar Patel and then again on 55 by Mohammed Siraj. Travis Head, too, was dropped by Nitish Kumar Reddy.
While Short made India pay big time with 74 off 78 balls, Head made 28 off 40.
The toss did not hold as much importance in this game as it did in the first, admitted Gill, who also went on to praise former India captain Rohit Sharma for his half-century at the top.
“In this game, I wouldn't say the [toss mattered] that much because both teams played for almost 50 overs. The wicket was doing a little bit more initially. But I think it settled pretty nicely after 15–20 overs,” said the 26-year-old.
On Rohit’s batting, the skipper added, “Never easy, coming back to play some competitive cricket after a long time. But the initial phase was very challenging. Very pleased with the way he batted. Fought out in the initial phase. I would say he missed out on a really big knock.”
Mitchell Marsh, the Australian captain, was very pleased with the way things panned out. After securing the series, he praised Josh Hazlewood and the bowling unit and also lauded the crowd for turning up in such big numbers.
“I said to the boys in Perth that it is pretty rare to play in front of big crowds in ODI cricket. Josh Hazlewood took the best none-for I've ever seen. He was unbelievable. I thought the whole bowling unit kept trying to take wickets. We were outstanding,” he said.
Both sides will return to the ground on October 25 (Saturday) at the Sydney Cricket Ground to fight it out one last time in the 50-over format before the focus shifts to T20s.