India vs Australia 2017: Australia Were Very Good Today: Virat Kohli

Team India‘s juggernaut finally ended on Thursday (September 28) with a 21-run defeat in the fourth One-Day International against Australia in Bangalore. The Men in Blue were on the backfoot for the majority of the first innings when Australian openers David Warner and Aaron Finch sent the bowlers on a leather hunt.

The duo added 231 for the first wicket, going past the previous highest opening stand for Australia against India which was achieved by Geoff Marsh and David Boon when they added 212 runs in 1986. Three quick wickets threatened to derail Australia’s innings but Peter Handscomb and Travis Head added 63 runs to guide the visitors to 334 for 5.

In reply, India were off to a flying start with Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma adding 106 runs for the first wicket but losing wickets in clusters at crucial junctures derailed their chase. The Men in Blue lost Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in quick succession and then Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey towards the end which all but sealed the match in Australia’s favour. India were eventually restricted to 313 for 8.

The defeat ended India’s nine-game winning streak but Virat Kohli did not sound too disappointed at the presentation ceremony. Praising his bowler to restrict Australia under 350, the India skipper said: Honestly at the 30 over mark, they were going strong. I thought if we restricted them under 350, it would be a great effort, and we did do that. We were optimistic with our chances. That can happen. People have off days. Umesh and Shami bowled well. Spinners won’t have good days always.”

“Australia were really good today. They pulled things back nicely. We didn’t play so bad, but they were better on the day. The only respite for the fast bowlers was taking the pace off. It (pitch) looked worse than it played. It played very well, surprised all of us,” added the skipper.