Perth: India skipper Shubman Gill acknowledged it wasn’t easy for his side to come back from the three early setbacks in the first ODI against Australia, saying the team still put up a competitive show by taking the match “pretty deep” against the hosts, here on Sunday.
India lost openers Rohit Sharma and Gill, and batting stalwart Virat Kohli in the powerplay overs from which the tourists could never recover as they lost the rain-shortened match by seven wickets.
“Never easy, when you lose three wickets in the powerplay, you’re always trying to play catch-up. There were a lot of learnings and positives as well,” said Gill after the match.
The grand comeback of stalwarts Kohli (0) and Sharma (8) lasted just 22 balls combined as India were reduced to 25/3 in just the ninth over as Australia made a huge dent early on.
But Gill said India made Australia earn their victory.
“Defending 130 in 26 odd overs, we took the game pretty deep so we’re satisfied with that,” added Gill.
He said the huge fan following at the stadiums will motivate the team on the white-ball tour. “We’re very fortunate that wherever we play, fans turn up in huge numbers. Hopefully, they’ll be able to cheer us on at Adelaide as well,” said Gill.
‘India will come back real strong’: Kuhnemann
Australia’s win was indeed set up by taking wickets upfront but spinner Matthew Kuhnemann backed India to bounce back strongly.
“I think they’ll come back real strong. Like I said, they’re a world-class team and it’s going to be a great series, With the one-dayers and the T20Is, it’s going to be awesome,” he said.
“When we kept coming on and off, the one stage I didn’t think I was going to bowl. Even bowling at the end there, I sort of knew it was going to be a tough ask,” he said.