Ranchi: India captain Virat Kohli Friday said his team will look to address its recent batting collapse and come back stronger in the remainder of the five-match series.
Chasing Australia’s stiff 313 for five, largely built on Usman Khawaja’s (104) maiden ODI ton and skipper Aaron Finch’s 93, India fell short by 32 runs after being dismissed for 281. India’s chase got off to a disastrous start as they lost their first three wickets with the scoreboard reading just 27 and Kohli hinted at trying out new players in the remaining two games of the series. ‘We don’t want to see anymore collapses. We want partnerships that can get us going. Yeah we will have a few changes in the next couple of games. A little hiccup in the middle, but we will regroup and come back strongly,’ he said.
“If we were three down with 100 needed off 13-14 overs, it was still achievable. But with five down it was difficult. No team wants to do that (lose 4-5 wickets early). We are a team that have strung in partnerships. We haven’t lost three in bunches many times. So it has happened a couple of times in the series and that is something we look forward to plugging in the next couple of games.”
Kohli scored a 95-ball 123-run knock but that wasn’t enough to prevent India from losing the third ODI against Australia. It allowed the visitors to pull one back and keep the five-match series alive. The India skipper termed his 41st ODI ton as ‘one the finest in terms of hitting the ball’, albeit it came in a losing cause here.
“We are a team that has taken a lot of pride in our cricket. In terms of hitting the ball well, it was one of my finest hundreds. I was feeling well since ball one. I was really disappointed with the way I got out,” Kohli said at the post-match prize distribution ceremony.
The Indian spinners — Ravindra Jadeja (0/64 in 10 overs) and Kedar Jadhav (0/32 in 2 overs) — had an off day but Kohli praised his bowling unit for pulling things back. “We were specially happy with the way we pulled things back in the first innings. With the way Australia were going, we thought we would have been chasing 350 plus,” he said. “I was told dew would come in in the evening, but that didn’t happen and I got that wrong. The wicket wasn’t improving at all and wasn’t getting easy for batting.”
| Constant quest for excellence makes Kohli special: Bangar |
| With his insatiable quest for excellence, India captain Virat Kohli has raised his game to such a level that even good performances from his teammates at times do not seem to be special, says assistant Sanjay Bangar.
Kohli struck another magnificent hundred (123 off 95 balls) against Australia in the third ODI and has now got two hundreds and a 40 plus score in the series so far and the inevitable question about over-reliance on him popped up. “It’s not that we are over-reliant on one particular individual. However the level that Virat has raised his game to, the performances of other players don’t seem to be that special,” Bangar said. Asked what makes Kohli such a special player, Bangar said his quest for excellence puts him in a different league. “He’s somebody who constantly looks out on an area for improvement and he does that on a regular basis. Probably that’s the reason why he has raised the game to such a level. The constant quest for excellence that Virat possesses is a phenomenal factor and it’s an example for any aspiring youngsters to follow,” said the former India all-rounder. |