India vs Australia, 4th ODI: We have to sit back and say Australia played well, says Virat Kohli

Australia recorded their first win of the five-match ODI series. (Source: PTI)

India’s nine match ODI winning streak came to an end with Australia registering a 21-run win in the fourth ODI at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday. Despite fifties by the openers Ajinkya Rahane (53), Rohit Sharma (65) and a 78-run partnership between Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav, India failed to chase down a target of 335.

A win tonight for Virat Kohli, would have seen him surpass MS Dhoni’s record of nine ODI wins on the trot. Kohli admitted that Indian batsmen should have done a better job but at the same time termed the defeat as a result of a rare off-day.

“At the 30-over mark they were going pretty strong, I thought it would be a great effort to restrict them to under 350, and we did that. We were pretty optimistic. Got a pretty good opening partnership, but we needed one big partnership, chasing 330, which we didn’t get,” Kohli said.

Replying to spinners performance in the fourth ODI, Kohli said, “People have off days. Umesh and Shami bowled well, they were getting the ball to reverse in their second spells. The spinners won’t always have good days. Sometimes you have to sit back and say the opposition played well. The only respite for the fast bowlers was taking the pace off the ball – it was pretty close to the old Bangalore wicket.”

Despite the result, India still lead the five-match ODI series 3-1 with one match to go, but lost an ODI for the first time since July.

Steve Smith credited Australian openers Aaron Finch and David Warner for their win and said that Peter Handscomb’s innings was crucial as the visitors managed to set a target above 300.

“Nice to get a win in. Thought Aaron Finch and David Warner were spectacular up top. They hit the boundaries when they wanted to, and set us up to get 330. Thought we were having one of our little collapses, but Peter Handscomb batted well to get us up to 330. I thought we were a little bit too wide with the new ball, could have been straighter, but the bowlers pulled it back nicely towards the back end,” Smith concluded.

While India made three changes in their playing XI with Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Axar Patel replacing Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav. Australia, on the other end, had Adam Zampa come in for injured Ashton Agar, who has been ruled out due to a fractured finger. The fifth and the final ODI of the India-Australia series will be played at the Vidarbha Association Stadium in Nagpur on October 1.