IND vs AUS | We'll analyse where things went wrong and will work on it, asserts Shikhar Dhawan
BCCI
Shikhar Dhawan, who scored a solid 74 in Mumbai, has stated that the team will sit together to analyse where things went wrong and will work on it accordingly to come back fresh in Rajkot. He has also applauded the tight lines bowled by Pat Cummins, which forced India out of their comfort zone.
It was a complete annihilation by the Australian team in the first ODI in Mumbai as the opening duo of Aaron Finch and David Warner chased down the 256-run target with surgical precision to expose India's strategy big-time. While Shikhar Dhawan stood apart with a fluent 74, the rest of the batting order failed to get going as India lost the plot in the middle overs.
The bowlers were completely out of their depth, throwing in freebies on a regular basis. It all came together to bite India but Dhawan is confident that the team will have a proper session to unearth the major reason behind the debacle.
"When KL got out, that time we planned to accelerate, and those four wickets we lost in a clutter, that's where we lost the momentum as well. From there, we were targetting 300 runs but eventually, we ended up scoring lesser runs on that sort of a wicket and in bowling, we weren't able to take early wickets as well and they played well; they outplayed us," Dhawan said in the post-match press conference.
"We will analyze were we went wrong and mentally we will work on it. We won't feel too sad about it, tomorrow is a new day. We will try to get ourselves back, get the positivity going because we've been playing very good cricket for one whole year. One bad day at the office is fine. We know we are a strong team and we will bounce back strong."
The wicket was slightly two-paced with the ball shooting off the surface far too frequently during India's innings. Dhawan and KL Rahul did a good job of scoring runs during that time but once the partnership was broken, it was one-way traffic. Dhawan applauded the tight lines bowled by the pacers, especially Pat Cummins, and admitted that losing four wickets quickly forced them to play catch-up.
"Felt there was a bit of moisture on the wicket and their bowlers bowled really well. Pat Cummins bowled a really tight line to me, he had that extra pace and bounce. But I feel that we handled the first 10-15 overs very nicely and like I said, when we lost those four wickets, that's where the game changed for us. From there, we were just playing catch-up."
