Indian batsmen Hardik Pandya (71 not out), KL Rahul (55) and Suryakumar Yadav (460) played brilliant innings to help the hosts post 208/6.
However, a tremendous bowling performance in the absence of pacer Jasprit Bumrah, and poor fielding which included three dropped catches ensured India’s defeat.
Rohit said, “I don’t think we bowled well. 200 is good for defense and we didn’t take advantage of the opportunity in the field. It was a great effort from our batsmen, but the bowlers were not there.” Presentation function.
“You can’t score 200 runs everyday, you need to bat well. Hardik (Pandya) batted really well to get us there. We need to look at our bowling before the next game.”
The captain felt that the game has highlighted areas on which the team needs to work on next month’s T20 World Cup.
“There are things we need to look at, but it was a good game for us to understand what went wrong.”
Australia were marching to victory courtesy of Cameron Green’s 61-run stand and despite dismissing the opener and taking three more wickets at a quick pace, India could not defend their big total.
“We know it’s a high scoring ground. You can’t rest even if you get 200. We took a couple of wickets, but he played really well. He played some exceptional shots.
“If I had been in that changing room, I would have expected to chase that total. You can find yourself trailing for 60 runs in the last 4 overs.
Rohit said, ‘We could not take his wicket. That was the turning point, if we had taken wickets, things would have been different.
The winning captain Aaron Finch was delighted with the partnerships whose team was able to stitch together while chasing a huge target.
“We had some good partnerships, some good matches between bat and ball.
“They hit us hard. You expect the run rate to slow down if you lose wickets. The batsmen tried to change the pace of the game,” he said.
“That’s what we play for, we still try to set up all the processes that lead to the World Cup,” he said.
Opening for the first time, Green was adjudged the player of the match for his sensational innings.
“I was thrown into the deep end (opening for the first time), but having someone like Finchy as a seasoned campaigner, he kept me calm.
“We had the privilege of watching Indians bat and Hardik must be one of the best at what he does.
“It was great to see him bat and it showed us how to go about chasing down,” Green said.
