Australian captain Steve Smith blamed ‘two new balls’ for their defeat in the first ODI of the ongoing 5-match series between India and Australia. The match was affected by rain and it was reduced to 21 overs in the second innings, after India had scored 281 runs in their quota of 50 overs.
“It was never going to be easy chasing 160 with two new balls,” Steve Smith said at the post-match press conference.
“It was sort of a good new-ball wicket to bowl with. We could have perhaps played things a little bit differently and tried to take a little bit more time upfront. It’s always hard in 20 overs to judge that. We weren’t good enough tonight,” he added.
But, India’s young leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal rubbished Smith’s ‘two new balls’ excuse. Chahal said that India bowled well and had Australia won they could have said that two new balls were a plus point.
“If they would have won then they could have said that (two new balls) were a plus point because the ball came on nicely to the bat. Our minus point was that we had to bowl 10 overs each with a new ball. We bowled well, so whether it’s a new or old ball, it doesn’t matter,” Yuzvendra Chahal said at the post-match press conference.
Yuzvendra Chahal also said that, batting second, Australia had an advantage in the 20-over game because the match wasn’t played with T20I rules and one extra fielder was always in the inner circle.
“Australia had an advantage in the 20-over game because the rule was not for a 20-over game and the extra fielder was always in the inner circle. But the plus (for India) was that the wicket was turning and the way our medium-pacers bowled at the start helped us put pressure on them from the very beginning. We never allowed them to get into the game,” Chahal added.
