Bowled out for 199 in their high-profile World Cup opener, Steve Smith admitted that the Australian batters failed to get on top of the Indian spinners on a tacky Chepauk surface. Opting to bat first in a surprise move, Australia were sitting pretty at 110 for two before left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (3/38) triggered a collapse with his triple blows in the middle overs. The total proved to be too less as India romped home with six wickets and nine overs to spare for a fine start to the tournament.
“All their spinners bowled really nicely. Obviously, they had the wicket to suit as well,” Smith said in the mixed zone.
“It was challenging against the spin since they are all very quality spinners. They really worked well together, and we struggled to get on top of them.” Besides Jadeja, wrist spinner Kuldeep picked up two wickets while there was one wicket for Ravichandran Ashwin.
In reply, India rode on Virat Kohli’s 85 and KL Rahul’s unbeaten 97-run knock to complete the task in 41.2 overs, having recovered from 2/3 in the second over.
Smith credited Kohli and Rahul for their batting.
“It was game on. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take it. Virat and Rahul played with a lot of composure. They played really smart cricket,” Smith told reporters.
“It wasn’t a kind of wicket where you could just muscle it and hit boundaries everywhere. Since they were chasing only 200, they could take a bit more time, just play themselves in, which they probably needed to after being three down early on and build a partnership that they did really well.” Talking about the challenge, he said that it was a tricky wicket to bat on, while bowling under the lights with the dew around made it tough.
“It was a challenging wicket, and we also saw a fair bit of spin taking place, along with a bit of movement for the seam bowlers off the cracks. So, obviously, it was difficult.
“200 was a little bit under par. Had we gone up and posted 250, we would have been in for an interesting game.
“Obviously, the dew came in the evening, making it a bit easier to bat. We can’t predict it, but we had three early wickets and also could have had possibly a fourth.” Smith was the top-scorer for the Aussies, making a 71-ball 46.
About his batting, he said, “I thought I was playing quite nicely. I had to sort of work my way through to keep the runs coming on this track.
“Felt like I was moving along nicely, hitting a few nice drives to the fast bowlers and spinners. But, unfortunately, failed to make a bigger one.” Up next for Australia will be South Africa, who got off to a blazing start with a 102-run thrashing of Sri Lanka in Delhi, having posted a record total of 428 for five.
Smith remarked that while the Lucknow wicket will be an unknown territory for them since they haven’t played there in the past, they have plenty of options in the team to pick the right playing XI.
“They (Proteas) got a good side, and they are confident at the moment. They are playing well, and we watched the game the other day. It looked like a nice surface in Delhi, and they posted a massive total.
“Who knows (about Lucknow’s surface)? It depends on what the surface looks like and how we need to play on that. So, we wait to see till we go there and figure out.
“Yeah, we have a few options that we can go in with. Marcus (Stoinis) is back with the team potentially. So, we have to wait and see how we can fit them in,” he concluded.
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