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After his side fell to India in the match at Dubai, Australia skipper Steve Smith noted that if his team had scored 300, the result may have been different in the first Champions Trophy semifinal. It was clear that Australia had set out to score 300 but saw their chances of becoming the first team in the competition to cross the 300 mark garner dim as they missed out on crucial partnerships. “I think the toss was the right decision. I think we had our opportunities throughout to post something up above 300. We were probably just that one wicket down too many at a few stages throughout the innings. If we extended one of those partnerships a little bit, we're probably getting up 290-300, and we're putting a bit of pressure on the scoreboard,” said Smith.
The square block has seen a lot of cricket over these past few months, so I understand why some people are calling it tired. Clearly, it hasn’t been the easiest wicket to bat on and combined with a tired block, it is clear why no one has crossed the 300 mark. In general, I believe we did a reasonable job but there were a few partnerships lacking that could have dragged the score up or just above 300.
"It would have been ideal to be somewhere close to 300 because I think 300 on that surface would have been a good total. There is some scoreboard pressure, I guess you have to take a few more chances in order to get above the rate. They were able to survive quite a few balls without any scoring with 264. So, it would have been nice to get to 300, but we weren't able to do that."
Travis Head provided Australia with a strong start until Varun Chakravarthy depleted the menacing left-hander to a mere shadow within the head’s hut. Smith and Labuschagne added another 56 runs but Australia were regularly losing wickets and India was almost managing to control the damage. Wonderful moments were had when Smith was bowled by a full toss from Mohammed Shami at 73, and when Alex Carey was smashed out after batting for 57 balls and 61 runs to put the score over 250.
‘It wasn’t great. I missed a full toss. Smith said he was dismissed. As I said before, I could’ve potentially gotten close to 300 or something. If I batted deeper, I definitely would’ve gotten a lot more. We were already told Alexander was batting beautifully on the other end. I managed to lose my wicket, which was a crucial stage, so that was slightly disappointing, but it is what it is I guess."
Currently, Australia tried taking advantage of some opportunities, one of the most important ones being with Kohli who was a diving Glenn Maxwell at the short mid off. He was 51 at the time, but made it to 84. Even though he fell trying to make a big shot for 84, it was still an important score to make. While India managed to get a lot of value from the other end being bowled too by KL Rahul who got 42 off 34 and Hardik Pandya who got 28 off 24 as well. The Indians were able to seal the deal with the chase within 48.1 overs.
"We let go of a few opportunities and I do believe that when you're trying to push the game and you look like you are creating a lot of pressure, with 260 on the board, you take those chances. But that’s sports - it happens, nobody deliberately drops a catch, along with the rest of the game,” said Smith, who went on to explain how Australia would have still had a shot if they took a couple more wickets.
“They managed to keep their run rate under control the whole time. Yes, we were one or two wickets away from making that happen. Towards the end, it did get fairly close. We managed to pull the game quite deep and attempt to apply some pressure that way. But yeah, clearly KL was fantastic in the end, as well as Hardik... So yes, we stretched it as much as we could, but they obviously batted beautifully,” he explained.
At the same time, Smith acknowledged the relatively inexperienced attack for doing it, adding that the context of a major event like the Champions Trophy and playing against a big side like India will serve them well.
"With regards to ICC events, I believe we have solid records in big matches and I reckon the players showed up and performed exceptionally well. There is, of course, a little lack of experience within our team most specially with our bowling unit. I thought some new guys there did a really good job as well. Those are new players who I believe will improve for the experience of being at a big event and competing against world-class players like the ones we faced today and throughout the tournament. There are lots of positives to take out of it," Smith told reporters.
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