Pitch was challenging in second half but we failed to build partnerships: Rohit Sharma

PTI, Mar 23, 2023, 8:25 AM IST

Poor application and their failure to build substantial partnerships was the reason for India’s downfall while chasing a target of 270, which wasn’t much according to skipper Rohit Sharma.

India lost a bilateral ODI series at home after four years and it was Australia under Aaron Finch that had beaten Virat Kohli’s side back in 2019.

“I don’t think it was too many runs (269). The wicket was a little challenging towards the second half. I don’t think we batted well. Partnerships are crucial, and we failed to do that today,” Sharma said at the end of the match.

In fact, what he found disappointing was that the Indian players have come up the ranks playing on these slow turners.

“The mode of dismissals… are born and brought up on these wickets. Sometimes you need to apply yourself, and give yourself a chance. It was important for one batter to carry on and take the game deep. But all of us were trying our best; it just didn’t happen.”

However Rohit feels that the nine home ODIs since January has ensured plenty of positives for the ‘Men in Blue’ ahead of this year’s World Cup.

“The nine ODIs we have played since January, we can take a lot of positives from that,” he said.

There is no denying that there is a lot of room for improvement.

“We need to understand where we need to improve. It’s a collective failure, we can take a lot of learnings from this series. Credit to the Australians. Both the spinners applied the pressure and so did their seamers,” Sharma added.