Kolkata: Australian skipper Steve Smith said on Wednesday that he has evolved a lot in the 50-over format and his team would bounce back hard and strong in the second ODI against India scheduled to be played in Kolkata on September 21.
Ahead of his 100th ODI for Australia, Smith, in a pre-match press conference talked about his journey from being a leg-break bowler to a top-order batsman. Ever since making his ODI debut seven years back in 2010, the 28-year-old has come a long way in becoming one of the best willow-wielders in world cricket at the moment.
When asked about his emotions ahead of his 100th ODI, he said, “I think I have evolved a lot as a white ball player. When I first started playing one-day cricket, my first 30-odd games, I played more as a bowler. I had to change a bit there. I’ve been batting at No 3 now for a while now.”
He further added, “I had to find the right tempo for the game, whether it’s hitting boundaries or finding the right time to hit a right boundary. You learn as you play. It’s pretty exciting to play my 100th game tomorrow.”
In the first ODI in Chennai, Australia had established a complete control over the match initially through paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile, who was too hot to handle by the Indian top-order batsmen. Having reduced the hosts to 87/5 at one point of time, Hardik Pandya joined forces with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and stitched a game changing partnership that helped India end up with 281/7 on the board.
However after the match was reduced to 21 overs due to the rains, Australia were given a target of 164 to chase down which they failed to do so. Their batting unit failed to fire as a whole as they ended up surrendering the match by 26 runs.
But they would have their sights set on making a comeback in the Kolkata game and even though the weather in the city hasn’t been favourable for conducting training sessions, the visitors sweated it out in the indoor nets on Tuesday.
This match too might be affected by rain according to the forecast and another shortened game might just be on the cards.
Keeping the Kolkata pitch in mind, which has traditionally been on the slower side, the Australians might give Ashton Agar an opportunity to be a part of the playing XI to handle the spin department alongside Adam Zampa.
The Indians however would be pretty happy with the all-round performance of the team. Although the top-order failed along with the middle-order, Pandya and Dhoni’s resurrection act towards the end bailed India out of all the trouble in the world. However, they would all hope that a similar situation doesn’t arise on Thursday.
India-Australia contests are always interesting and exciting and the September 21st one would be no different. With Kohli aiming all out for a second straight win in the series to solidify India’s chances of winning the same, world champions Australia would too give it their all to come out as the better side at the end of the day.