“My plan was to try to put the sailors under a slightly more pressure, and simply rotate the turn,” Smith said after the game. “But I didn’t do it very well. I lost my wickt probably in a crucial stage. If I had hit a little deeper, we could have reached almost 300 or something. Alex was hitting very well at the other extreme. It was a disappointing moment to leave, but that is the game sometimes.”
Australia only established India 265 for victory. But since this was probably the most friendly surface for batting in this place for the entire tournament, Smith assumed the opportunity to go big.
“I think we had our opportunities to publish something above 300,” said Smith. “We were probably only a wickt too much, in some stages throughout the entries. If we extended one of those associations a little, we are probably reaching 290 to 300 and we are pressing a little on the scoreboard.
“The square block as a whole, I think, has seen a lot of Crick in recent months. We can see that it is quite tired and that is probably the reason we have not seen a score above 300 in the tournament here. Until now, so we did a reasonable job, but probably we just missed a couple of those associations simply dragging a little more.”
Australia was also poor in the field. Rohit Sharma dropped twice, and Virat Kohli was thrown to 51. However, all these were difficult.
“I think that when you try to tighten the game and you are trying to develop a lot of pressure, you must risk when you have 260 on the board,” said Smith. “But that is the game, it happens. No one means letting a capture. It is part of the game.”
