The Australians now travel to Melbourne to prepare for what becomes a must-win on Friday night to keep the three-game T20 series alive, with the final game to be played in Sydney on Sunday.
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Another player, who will be in focus is Yuvraj Singh, who didn’t get to bat in the first ODI.
After the T20 loss, when Australia was bowled out for 151 in reply to India’s 3-188 at Adelaide Oval, Finch said catching was a problem that needed rectifying. Suresh Raina, who has been missing in action from the global circuit, gave adequate support to Kohli with his knock of 41 runs.
Aaron Finch will skipper the hosts, while Test and one-day captain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner, along with wicketkeeper Matthew Wade could leave early to prepare for Australia’s three-game ODI series against New Zealand.
Asked to bat, India got off to a flying start with in-form Rohit Sharma firing all cylinders to traumatise the opposition bowlers. Tait and Richardson conceded more than 10 runs per over in their limited quota of 4 overs and were wicketless.
Even MS Dhoni made note of Kohli’s incredible record at the ground after India’s 37-run win over Australia in the first T20I on Tuesday. He had conceded 19 runs in the first over with five wides. Smith was caught by the Indian Test captain off Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling and Kohli immediately signalled something just as he was walking back to the pavilion. The left-arm spinner had Steve Smith pushing uppishly in the covers to Kohli and later accounted for debutant Travis Head.
“If they’re thinking about the World Cup they are likely to go out there and get a bit of stage fright so they have just got to play the game the way they have been playing”.
“It was good to see our bowlers making the batsmen play the big shot because you can really put pressure on them that way”.
The One Day series has been completed and it was mainly a series that was loved by batsmen as every game has huge scores in the first innings and the team bowling always get hammered. After taking his catch, Kohli mimed a mouthing off gesture, perhaps indicating that had Smith’s mind been on the match instead of the interview, things may have turned out different.
Finch said the Australians had no one but themselves to blame.
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“There’s obviously been a lot of hype and talk about Usman Khawaja but, if you can tell us who the selectors can leave out, then you’ve probably got a discussion there”, Warner said. “By the time he ends his career, quite a few Australian grounds will have his stand”, said Dhoni.
