Rohit Sharma blames batters after 10-wicket defeat in Vizag ODI: 'It wasn't a 117 wicket'
India endured their biggest-ever defeat in terms of balls to spare after getting bowled out for their lowest ODI score against Australia in Vizag on Sunday.
India endured their biggest-ever defeat in terms of balls to spare after getting bowled out for their lowest ODI score against Australia in Vizag on Sunday. India skipper Rohit Sharma was disappointed with his team's performance in the second One-Day International (ODI) against Australia, which they surprisingly lost by 10 wickets in Vizag on Sunday.
Team India were bowled out for 117 in 26 overs after Mitchell Starc took a five-wicket haul, and Australia won in 11 overs due to Mitch Marsh's destructive 66 not out. This was India's heaviest loss in ODIs in terms of balls to spare (234) after they were bowled out for their lowest total in 50-overs cricket against Australia. Except for Virat Kohli (31) and Axar Patel (29*), no other batters batted, and four Indians were out without even starting their accounts.
Rohit also stated that failure in the batting section contributed to India's defeat in the match. India suffers from a lack of stick application. "Losing a contest is just disappointing. We didn't put in any effort with the stick. There weren't enough runs on the score. It wasn't a 117-wicket performance. We kept dropping wickets, which prevented us from scoring the runs we needed.
"Once we lost Shubman in the first over, myself and Virat got 30-35 runs fast. But then I lost my wicket and we lost we lost a couple of wickets back to back. That placed us on the defensive. "It's always difficult to recover from that situation," Rohit said after the game. 'Starc kept batters wondering,' said one observer. The skipper also praised Mitchell Starc for bowling well in the powerplay and breaking India's backbone with fast wickets of Shubman Gill, Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav.
"Today wasn't meant to be our day. Starc is an excellent spinner. With the new ball, he's been doing it for Australia. He continued to bowl to his ability. Swung the new ball and took away the strange ball. The hitters were kept guessing," Rohit added. The third and final ODI will be contested on March 22 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, with both teams tied at 1-1.
