Smith resolute after rain pain ends with defeat
AUSTRALIA captain Steve Smith has no intention of panicking after his side lost the first one- day international to India in a rain- shortened match.
While the visitors went down after a lengthy delay yesterday, Smith was not reading too much into the result, having collapsed chasing a revised target of 164 off 21 overs.
“I’m not really concerned, 160 with one new ball would have made things easier,” Smith said. “You don’t really have a great deal of time to make things up when you need eight an over basically from ball one.”
Australia slumped to 4- 35 in the eighth over when David Warner nicked Kaldeep Yadav through to MS Dhoni.
Glenn Maxwell tried to launch a rearguard action, but his 39 off 18 balls wasn’t enough to save his side from going one- nil down in the fivematch series.
Maxwell was caught in the deep off Yuzvendra Chahal ( 330) looking to clear the boundary for a sixth time before Marcus Stoinis ( three) departed three balls later.
From 6- 76 the mountain was too steep and Australia finished 27 runs short at 9- 137.
It was a cruel loss given the match was only minutes from being abandoned when play resumed. Rain started falling shortly after India fought back to post 7- 281 off their 50 overs after the Australian bowlers dominated early.
Injury- plagued paceman Nathan Coulter- Nile ( 3- 44) made a dream start to his first international match since June last year with a sensational opening spell. The 29- year- old’s outswing yielded three wickets in 13 balls including the prized scalp of India captain Virat Kohli, who was out for a duck to a sensational one- handed catch from Maxwell.
But with India reeling at 5- 87 after Stoinis chimed in with two wickets, Dhoni ( 79 off 88) steadied the ship in trademark fashion. Dhoni combined with Hardik Pandya for a vital 118- run partnership.