Virat Kohli shocked

Recording their biggest ever win over India, Aussies smashed India by 10 wickets with 74 balls to spare.

Aussies are in India for 3 ODIs. One has already been played and gloriously won by Australia by 10 wickets. Although Melbourne’s Shekhar Dhawan – opener for India did score 74 and along with KL Rahul he put up a century stand, things totally slid out of India’s hands when within the space of 10 balls, both Dhawan and KL departed.

Much to the chagrin and disappointment of Indian fans, the heavy weight Virat Kohli, did practically nothing to justify his name and sporting profile – especially in a situation where his contribution was needed the most. Once Rohit Sharma departed early (he only made 10), the pressure fell on Dhawan and KL. And they both handled as well as they were expected to by the team management and the fans.

It was Kohli, who let India down and badly. He scored only 16 and the team could only manage 255.

Also read: Rohit Sharma – Man behind Kohli’s success as skipper

And chasing 256 for win, the Aussies in reply were just fantastic. Skipper Aaron Finch (110 not out) and David Warner (124 not out) smashed the Indian bowlers all over to help Australia thrash India by 10 wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series here on Tuesday.

Finch and Warner both took the Indian bowlers to the cleaners to register the emphatic win with 74 balls to spare and take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Not surprising, the scanner is back on the Indian team and they have to come up with new armoury against the buoyant Aussies in the remaining two ODIs.

Virat Kohli said the team management will review its batting plans after his dropping to No. 4 to let in-form KL Rahul bat at his one-drop position led to an underwhelming batting effort and a 10-wicket defeat against Australia in the first ODI. “We were outplayed in all three departments. It’s a very strong Australian team and if you don’t play well enough they will hurt you and we saw that,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation. “With bat in hand I don’t think we had enough intent to go out there and take risks, get those extra runs and put the bowlers under pressure.”

BCCI tweeted – That’s that from the Wankhede. Absolute domination by the Australian openers as Australia win the 1st ODI by 10 wickets and go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

Although opener Shikhar Dhawan and Rahul, at No. 3, raised a century stand, they could not put the Australia bowlers under pressure once set.

“I think in phases we were too respectful of the bowlers,” Kohli said. “We didn’t take the game by the scruff of its neck. Having said that it’s another challenge for us to bounce back from here …”

Kohli came in to bat in the 28th over and seen Aussie bowlers for more than half of the match observing every thing they were throwing at the Indian. And yet, he managed only 16 runs and stayed at the crease for only 14 balls.

After that, Indians just repeated themselves, as they always do in similar situations.

“We’ve had this discussion many times in the past as well. Because of the way KL has been batting, we have tried to fit him in the batting line-up. But I don’t think it’s gone quite our way whenever I batted at four so probably will have to rethink about that one,” Kohli said.

 “It’s about giving some guys opportunities. Every now and then, it’s about putting people up there and testing them. People need to relax and not panic with one game. I am allowed to experiment a little bit and fail at times. Today was one of the days it didn’t come off.”

Dhawan said in his post match dialogue: “We were targeting 300 and lost wickets and ended up scoring less runs. We could not take early wickets. They outplayed us,” he told reporters.

Outplaying India completely, Aussies smashed India at a time when Indians had been playing well against every team. The West Indies team did not find much against them.

As I have expressed my views earlier also, Rohit Sharma’s form and contribution is a big factor in not only Indian team’s but also Virat Kohli’s success.

It pains me to question if Virat is worth A$3.5 million for six weeks of IPL when, time and again he has failed to deliver for India as skipper. No wonder people still remember Kapil Dev’s 1983 innings.

And they will continue to do so unless of course, Kohli the skipper starts to deliver for India.

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