Image Source- AFP
According to Steven Smith, Australia’s World Cup debut
against India on a sharp turner at Chepauk on Sunday was prevented from posting
a competitive score because of Smith’s departure, which set off a collapse.
Prior to Ravindra Jadeja’s middle-swinging catch that
caused the ball to rip away and strike the top of the off stump, Smith had
top-scored for Australia with 46 off 71 balls. Australia was out for 199 runs
after going from 110 for 2 in 27 overs.
“Yeah, perhaps [my dismissal was the turning
point],” Smith said after Australia lost by six wickets. “I mean you
never want to get out. We were trying to take it a little bit deeper, and it
was obviously very challenging [on this pitch]. And it was going to be
challenging for the guy coming in…We were just trying to take it a little bit
deeper and unfortunately felt like I got a pretty good ball from Jadeja. Felt
like I was back playing Test cricket. But to lose those wickets in a row
probably cost us getting up to around 250.”
Smith believed he was in good rhythm with the bat up
until Jadeja knocked him over. Following Mitchell Marsh’s dismissal for a duck
in the third over, Smith came out to bat. In the oppressive heat of Chennai, he
steadily added runs with David Warner in a 69-run second-wicket partnership.
“I thought I was playing quite nicely,”
Smith said. “It wasn’t a wicket where you can just go out and muscle it
and have a high strike rate I suppose. We had to work our way through that
scenario, and it was challenging. Felt like I was moving into the ball nicely
and played a few nice drives off the fast bowlers and was working spin around.
So, [I] felt good and unfortunately couldn’t go on to make a bigger one.”
Australia will play its next eight group matches in
seven different cities, beginning in Lucknow with back-to-back contests against
South Africa and Sri Lanka. They had a difficult time adjusting to the Chepauk
conditions, but Smith is optimistic that Australia will perform better on other
fields and reach their peak performance during the tournament.
“I think we can learn a bit from this game,
definitely,” Smith said. “We’ve talked as a group [about] playing
according to the surface and maybe a nice partnership at that stage would’ve
been good. If we were able to extend it a little bit longer and had one more
partnership we could’ve posted a total that could’ve been defendable on that
wicket if all things stayed the same, I suppose.
“And then we might go to the next place [where]
it might be flat and we might score 350 and play according to what that surface
is. I think that’s the most important thing to do playing in these conditions.
In tournament play, you don’t want to be peaking too early. You obviously got
to do enough to make your way to the finals, but you want to play your best cricket
in the end. So, hopefully we can turn it around and beat South Africa in a few
days’ time.”