IND vs AUS 1st ODI: Arshdeep Singh opens up on loss against Australia in Perth

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India seamer Arshdeep Singh on Sunday said that the rain delay made it difficult for the visiting batters to maintain their concentration, resulting in a poor batting effort and an eventual seven-wicket defeat to Australia in the first ODI at the Optus Stadium here on Sunday.  

“If you spend time on this wicket, then the runs were coming, but it was very important to spend time on the wicket whoever was set. We saw the partnership between KL [Rahul] and Axar [Patel]. But with frequent stoppages, it became very difficult for the batter to maintain concentration. Credit also goes to Australian bowlers. They bowled in very good areas, they got a lot of help from the wicket,” Arshdeep said at the post-match press conference.

India skipper Shubman Gill (extreme left) and his players wear a dejected look after their defeat to Australia in the first ODI at Perth on Sunday. Pic/AFP

The left-arm seamer added that he is still very new to Shubman Gill’s style of white ball captaincy but expects the young skipper to be a bowlers’ captain just like his illustrious predecessors Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. 

Shubman gives bowlers freedom

“I have played very less ODIs, so I can’t tell the difference yet, but I would say both of them were proper bowlers’ captains. They gave you proper freedom and even today Shubman, he backed whatever plans we had, and he said, ‘bowl freely to your plans and just enjoy the moment’. We knew we didn’t have that many runs, but we just wanted to express ourselves,” added Arshdeep.

Asked to bat, India laboured to a sub-par 136 for 9, after the match was revised to 26 overs per side courtesy several rain interruptions, leaving the hosts to chase a DLS target of 131, which they duly reached in 21.1 overs. Travis Head fell to Arshdeep early, slashing the left-arm pacer to Harshit Rana at deep third man, and Matthew Short too walked back without any significant contribution. But skipper and local man Mitchell Marsh (46 not out off 52 balls) used his brute power to keep Australia ahead of the curve with a crucial 55-run stand with Josh Philippe (37 off 29 balls).

India skipper Gill acknowledged that it wasn’t easy for his side to come back from the three early setbacks in the first ODI against Australia. India lost openers Rohit (eight) and Gill (10), and batting stalwart Kohli (zero) in the Powerplay and never recovered. “[It’s] never easy, when you lose three wickets in the Powerplay, you’re always trying to play catch up. There were a lot of learnings and positives as well,” said Gill. The grand comeback of stalwarts Kohli  and Sharma lasted just 22 balls combined as India were reduced to 25-3 in just the ninth over.

‘We took the game pretty deep’

Gill, however, felt that his team made Australia earn their victory. “Defending 130 in 26 odd overs, we took the game pretty deep so we’re satisfied with that,” he added.

Arshdeep, meanwhile, is confident that Kohli will score runs in the remaining two games of this series. “Virat has played more than 300 matches for India, so form is just a word for him. He knows how to get going. It’s always a blessing to be in the same dressing room with him, and going forward I feel there’ll be a lot of runs for him in this series as well,” added Arshdeep.

1
No. of times Virat Kohli has been dismissed for a duck in Australia in 30 ODIs

2
Shubman Gill is the 2nd Indian (after Kohli) to lose his first match as captain in all three formats

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