Rohit Sharma: We kept falling to Starc’s strength

India skipper Rohit Sharma rues lack of batting application against Australia pacer Mitchell (5-53) as hosts get bowled out for 117; visitors win by 10 wkts

A disappointed India captain Rohit Sharma on Sunday rued that his side’s formidable batting line-up “kept falling to the strength” of Australia pacer Mitchell Starc instead of playing their natural game in the second ODI, which the hosts lost by 10 wickets here.

Australia won the match to level the series 1-1 and will now head to Chennai for the deciding third ODI on March 22.

Rohit Sharma

Ninth fifer in one-dayers

Starc (5-53), who completed his ninth five-wicket haul in 109 ODI innings, wreaked havoc as Australia bundled out the home side for 117 in 26 overs after India were invited to bat first. Australia completed the run chase in just 11 overs without losing any wicket.

Sharma said Indian batters didn’t apply themselves properly, and added that it was certainly not a low-scoring pitch.

Pacer Mitchell Starc is delighted after picking up a wicket

“Starc is a quality bowler. He’s been doing it for years for Australia with the new ball. He kept bowling to his strength and we kept falling to his strength. That’s something that we need to understand and play accordingly,” Sharma said at the post-match presentation.

Sharma minced no words about the batting failure, saying that 117 was not at all a challenging total.

“It is disappointing. No doubt about that. We didn’t play to our potential. We didn’t apply ourselves with the bat. We always knew that was not enough runs. It was not a 117 pitch at all. By no means. We just didn’t apply ourselves,” said Sharma, who himself contributed 13 runs from 15 balls.

Australia captain Steven Smith was surprised with the quick result, achieved with 39 overs to spare. “It was a quick one. 37 overs, you don’t see that too often,” he said.

Also read: 2nd ODI: Rohit back in playing eleven as Australia win toss, elect to bowl first against India

Smith lauds bowlers

“I thought our bowlers were outstanding. Mitchell Starc, in particular, with that new ball swinging it back down the line and putting them [under] early pressure and he complemented really well with the rest of our bowling group. I didn’t know how the wicket was going to play and how much it was going to swing.”

On his run chase and the unbeaten 121-run partnership by the Australian openers Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh, Smith said, “The way that Mitch and Heady went out and went after them was impressive. When you’re chasing 118 really quickly, you can break the back of it really quickly.”

Brief scores
India 117 all out in 26 overs (V Kohli 31, A Patel 29*; M Starc 5-53, S Abbott 3-23, N Ellis 2-13) lost to Australia 121-0 in 11 overs (M Marsh 66*, T Head 51*) by 10 wickets

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