Smith disappointed but proud of his team

Despite the 75-run loss to India on Tuesday, Australia has done rather well in its tour thus far, felt captain Steve Smith.

Umesh Yadav (right) celebrates after his lbw appeal against Shaun Marsh was responded favourably by the umpire.

For a team that was written off before the series, Australia had done rather well despite the loss in the second Test , Australia captain Steve Smith has said. In a press-conference here on Tuesday, Smith expressed his disappointment.

“It is disappointing to have lost. In the first couple of days we played some good cricket. We expected India to come back hard. They played good cricket in their second innings and the partnership between Pujara and Rahane was a good one. But I am still proud of the boys. When we came here we were expected to lose 4-0. But we have competed incredibly hard and hopefully we will get more results going our way.”

Explaining Australia’s inability to lift its game in the second innings, Smith said: “On a Day Four wicket which is challenging you need a little bit of luck. We bowled very well, got the breakthroughs that we needed but as far as batting is concerned, 188 was always going to be difficult and we probably just needed one or two batsmen to stand up a bit more, try and get us closer to the score. I am still proud of the way we played in these first two Test matches.”

Miscommunication

Smith felt his team missed an opportunity to utilise a review call when Shaun Marsh was dismissed by Umesh Yadav. Marsh had shouldered arms to Yadav's delivery and was hit on the pads in the off-stump region. “Regarding Shaun's one - we were not sure entirely. I sort of said “go” as in “go have a look at it” and he sort of turned around and started walking, so I should have probably put my hands up and done it. Obviously we saw the replay and it was missing the stumps. It would have been a nice one to review,” he said.

“It could have been important. Shaun was looking pretty good, so disappointing wicket at that time. That is the game of cricket and we got to move on from there.”

Smith also praised India’s fast bowlers. “Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma were very good, particularly in the first innings. It was very hard to score off them. At times they looked very dangerous as well.”

(With inputs from PTI)