Australia captain Steve Smith is clueless as to why his batting line-up is falling apart in crunch situations across formats, admitting that it is occurring way too often to his liking, reported PTI.
Chasing a target of 253 against India is the second ODI at Eden Gardens, Australia lost their last eight wickets for 112 runs as they were bundled out for 202. Seven of their batsmen failed to get into double digits as well.
“Well, it’s happening a bit too often for my liking to be honest with you – in all forms of cricket. We have had a lot of collapses and we need to stop it,” said Smith.
However, he did not explain whether it was poor technique while facing wrist spinners or the temperament – a must for playing top-flight cricket, the reasons behind the collapse.
“It’s a hard to put my finger on but whatever it is. It needs to change and we need to make better decision when we are under pressure and start playing properly. It’s not good enough,” said Smith.
Smith said they have to learn from their mistakes and execute their plans to keep their hopes alive in the five-match series.
“The guys have trained and trained really well. It’s now about getting in the middle and executing those when you are under pressure. This game we just couldn’t get the partnerships, we are just making silly errors. You are not allowed to do so against a quality line-up like India,” said Smith.
‘You’ve to change what you’re doing because it’s not working’
Execution is the problem, so it seems. “It’s just easy to just sit here and say it needs to stay but when you get out in the middle, you’ve to change what you’re doing because it’s not working.”
Marcus Stoinis waged a lone battle with an unbeaten knock of 62 while Smith, in his 100th one-day, failed to convert his impressive 59 before falling to Hardik Pandya.
“(Marcus) Stoinis played vert well at the back end. But, someone in the top four, myself or Heady (Travis Head), particularly once we got in, had to go on and probably be there till the end. We didn’t execute our skills well enough under pressure,” said Smith.
Australia have now lost their last 10 ODIs away from home.
They would hope that Aaron Finch (calf muscle injury) is match-fit for Indore as Hilton Cartwright has been a big letdown at the top with scores of 0,1,1 in three matches in India.
Wicket-keeper batsman Matthew Wade, who opened the gates for Kuldeep Yadav en route to a historic hattrick last night, is also struggling with 11 runs from two one-day games as Peter Handscomb may be drafted in for Indore.
“I think where you play, your top-4 needs to score the bulk of your runs. We weren’t good enough at it,” said Smith.
On the conditions, he said the ball spun a little more as the game went on but the pace of the wicket remained the same throughout.
“Perhaps their spinners bowled a little bit slower - Chahal and Kuldeep bowled reasonably slow and tried to get whatever they could out of the surface. They got quite a few balls to spin sharply,” he said.
Smith however said the conditions could not be an excuse as both the teams had the same on offer. “Both are playing on the same surface. It is about adapting to whatever conditions you are dealing with and summing things up and communicating effectively among the team. I think we are doing that okay,” he added.
