As it was speculated, India’s tour of Australia is turning out to be a gargantuan task for the team. The second ODI on Sunday was a replay of the first match, where Indian bowlers looked listless against the dominating Australian batsmen. Hardik Pandya was the only Indian bowler who was able to contain the Aussie batsmen to an extent which led to him taking a wicket.
Hardik Pandya didn’t bowl a single over in the recently concluded Indian Premier League. He was picked in the Indian squad considering the fact that he may not even bowl on the Australian tour and will play as a pure batsman. However, the Australian batsmen’s assault compelled the Indian captain to have Pandya bowl and he turned out to be the most economical of them all.
Hardik Pandya bowled got Steve Smith out
He only bowled four overs but his off-cutters were certainly difficult to hit and the kangaroo batsmen found themselves struggling against the slower balls. Pandya even claimed the big wicket of centurion Steve Smith. Kohli and Finch mentioned in the post-match presentation how Pandya’s bowling gave the Australian bowlers a game plan to stick to.
Virat Kohli accepted the fact that they were outplayed by the Aussies in all the departments and certainly need to come harder. “They have outplayed us. We were ineffective with the ball and didn’t hit the areas. He (Pandya) gave away a bit of a bowling plan with his off-cutters,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
Finch seconded Virat’s opinion about the bowling plan as he said, “It was a perfect performance with the bat. Smithy was incredible as usual, Moises bowled really well including his cutters, and as Virat said, we got a bit of a blueprint from Hardik, by taking the pace off the ball.”
After facing the defeat in the second ODI, India has already lost the series with Australia up with 2-0 in the three-match series. The Indian team will be playing third ODI to avoid a whitewash on 02nd Dec in Manuka Oval, Canberra. This is certainly not the start the team would’ve wanted when they landed in Australia. The Kohli led team needs to buckle up for the T20Is and Test series which will be commencing from 04th Dec and 17th Dec respectively.