Virat Kohli doesn’t wish to read much into India’s humiliating loss to Australia in the opening one-dayer on Tuesday.
“We were totally outplayed in all departments,” the India captain admitted. “It’s a very strong Australian team, and if you don’t play well enough, they will hurt you… It’s another challenge to bounce back from here.”
He appealed to fans not to panic. “People need to relax and not panic. Today was one of the days it didn’t come off.”
Opener Shikhar Dhawan agreed. “We played well against West Indies as well, where all the batsmen did well… As players, we don’t focus too much on things that are not happening. Shreyas (Iyer) has been doing so well, he is a young lad, whose one or two innings could go here and there… As a team we need to back each other and don’t focus too much on a loss,” Dhawan said.
Kohli felt losing four wickets for 30 runs in the middle stages proved to be the turning point.
“When KL got out, that time we planned to accelerate and those four wickets we lost, that’s where we lost the momentum. We were targeting 300 and with the loss of wickets, we ended up scoring less runs on that sort of a wicket. In bowling too, we could not take early wickets,” he said.
“There was a bit of moisture on the pitch when we batted. Pat Cummins bowled a really good length, there was extra bounce and pace. We handled the first 10-15 overs very nicely. Then we lost four wickets in a row.”
He is looking forward to the remaining matches in Rajkot and Bangalore. “It’s a new day, so we have to get the positivity going. We guys have been playing very good cricket the whole year, so one bad day in office is fine.”
Man of the Match David Warner credited the bowlers for the victory despite chasing down a target of 256 without losing a wicket. “I think I’ve always had the hunger and desire for runs. It’s just a great effort from our fast bowlers to knock India over for 255.”
