Australia are looking for a one-day series whitewash over India in Saturday’s final game, after being handed an unlikely win in the fourth tie when the tourists imploded with victory in sight.
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And it would take a special resolve to recover from the demoralising debacles to manage at least one positive result before the three-match Twenty20 series starting January 26 in Adelaide.
Coming back to India’s 1-4 loss in the just-concluded ODI series, Jones said the visiting team’s bowling left a lot to be desired.
Debutant Jasprit Bumrah was the most impressive of the Indian bowlers, with figures of two for 40, including the prize scalp of Australian skipper Steve Smith. The first four games, I thought were close, but we didn’t close it down well.
“It’s about sending a stronger message to the public, but particularly to families and young girls about cricket being a sport of choice and a sport that is embracing of females and the opportunities that cricket brings, particularly on the playing side of things but also more broadly from a fan perspective as well”.
“I think we have been competitive in the series”. People say that even if you have a 51% success rate, it’s very high. I was really proud of our bowlers throughout this series though. “They really stepped up at pivotal times”.
After Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and made a decision to bowl, Australia scored an imposing 330-7 off their 50 overs thanks to centuries from David Warner (122) and Mitchell Marsh (102 not out). “I’ve been batting really well in one-day cricket, it’s important that I keep scoring runs for the team”, said Sharma. “What did we get, seven off the last two overs”. So we need some extra bit of experience in such conditions. “We were in a pretty good position”. We fell 25 to 30 runs short every time but Pandey ruined it for me this time! “We dropped a couple of regulation chances and when you drop players like that they’re going to come back and bite you”, added Smith, referring to Rohit being dropped twice and also Dhoni being reprieved early in his innings.
While Pandey wants to push his case for the No 4 slot, his limited overs captain feels otherwise. With 13 required off the final over, Dhoni eased the pressure with a six off the opening delivery, and although he got out in the same over, Pandey remained till the end to see the team over the line. “You know how hard it was for me to change my statement at last moment in the presentation ceremony?” said a disheartned Dhoni.
“So I just think we need to make sure we get him out of the way when the bowler is coming in to bowl”. The first plan was to get him out, but we failed to take the chance that we got.
“We know if he there’s for long enough, he’s an extremely unsafe player”. He finds the boundary at the right time.
Australian skipper Steven Smith was a happy man with a dominating scoreline to the team’s credit but did not forget to praise the good performance of the visitors.
“I’ve been a little bit disappointed with the way they’ve played throughout the whole summer in the two test matches against New Zealand on those respective pitches”.
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There have been a handful of previous incident involving SpiderCam; Smith witnessed a similar instance during a 2012 Champions League match while Chris Gayle was denied a six during the Indian Premier League a year ago when the umpires ruled the ball had deflected off one of the SpiderCam wires on its way over the rope.
