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After suffering a historic 2-1 ODI series defeat on home turf, stand-in captain Josh Inglis called out Australian batters and emphasised the need to put runs on the board irrespective of the style that they adopt to play with.
In the series decider, the ODI World Cup champions were cut to a distraught figure by Pakistan with a memorable performance in Perth. The air of disappointment had taken over the Australian camp, and the conversations about the shambolic exploits with the bat took centre stage. Ian Healy's criticism about Australian batters' "big ego," which got shrugged away by Jake Fraser-McGurk, started to resonate in the fan base. "Disappointed" after the series loss, Inglis acknowledged that even though every batter has their way of batting, ultimately, it is all about putting runs on the board. "Pretty disappointing, to be honest, I think after the first three-quarters of the first game, we've been totally outplayed. The batters just didn't get the runs on the board in the last couple of games," Inglis said in the post-match presentation. In the opening ODI, Australia were cruising to victory on the back of a classic 85-run stand between Steven Smith and Inglis. The moment the match-winning partnership ended, Australia found themselves reeling at 155/7 after losing wickets in a cluster. Pat Cummins understood the need of the hour, and with ice in his veins, he delivered a solid 32* to take Australia past the finishing line. In the second and third ODIs, the one snag that Australia willingly decided not to overcome was their batters' hunger to play with aggression. The desire to play aggressively came at the cost of losing wickets, a price that Australian batters wanted to pay even though the odds were against them with the new ball. In the second and the third ODI, Australia failed to go past the 200-run mark and folded on 163 and 140, respectively. "Guys have their own way of batting, but it's important to put together runs, stay out there, take the innings deep, and get the results. It was nice to be captaining in front of my home fans here in Perth, but the result was a disappointment," Inglis concluded. After the conclusion of the ODI series, Australia will shift its focus to the three T20Is against Pakistan and then the Border Gavaskar Trophy against India. (ANI)
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