Steve Smith would have looked at the Indian scorecard overnight in the knowledge that’s what the Australians must do tonight against Bangladesh.
Overnight, the defending Champions Trophy holders teed off at Pakistan’s expense with the first four passing half centuries – and in a hurry.
Rohit Sharma cracked 91 off 119 with seven fours and a couple of sixes. Shikhar Dhawan’s 68 took 65 balls, with six fours and a six. Skipper Virat Kohli was unbeaten on 81 off 68 with six fours and three sixes.
The 35-years-young Yuvraj Singh smashed 53 off 32 with eight fours and a six, and in came Hardik Pandya with an unbeaten 20 off just six with three maximums.
India’s 3-319 off 48 overs was revised to 289 off 41 overs by the Duckworth-Lewis method, but Pakistan wasn’t up to the task, bundled out for 164 to lose by 124.
I can’t recall India going into any ODI with four quicks and a sole spinner. But they did overnight, and it worked a treat.
And champion offie Ravi Ashwin wasn’t the spinner, even though he would be first picked by any other country for every game. That job was left to left arm orthodox Ravi Jadeja.
So how did Virat Kohli rate his side’s first-up performance?
Nine out of ten.
If Steve Smith was to rate the Australian effort in the washed out clash with the Kiwis he would be hard pressed to make it a five.
(AAP Image/Joe Castro)
Now faced with having to beat Bangladesh tonight and England later in the week to have any chance of making the semis, changes must be made, and every department dramatically lifted.
The Australians can’t possibly match India’s batting if they go in with David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith, Moises Henriques, and Glenn Maxwell in that order.
There’s no room for the patchy Henriques, and it’s time for Maxwell to take on a responsible role as a senior batsman and leave the low percentage hero shots in the shed for good.
On their day, Warner, Finch, Smith, and Maxwell are very capable of matching India’s performance last night, but there’s a big question mark hanging over them.
Consistency hasn’t been the benchmark of late, but anything less and the men in yellow will be on the first plane home after the group games.
The inclusion of Marcus Stoinis will bolster the side. He’s a far better batsman than Henriques, and he won’t bowl half-track rubbish either.
Leggie Adam Zampa is another must-have addition to the attack has to must lift, as Bangladesh’s batsmen won’t be any pushovers.
The no result with the Kiwis hurt Australia’s campaign, but not as much as a loss that would surely have happened had it not been for the rain.
But that’s all history, it’s crunch time tonight.
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