Chennai (Tamil Nadu): Australia was bundled out for a meagre 199 in their 2023 World Cup opener against India on Sunday, which they lost by six wickets and ace batter Steve Smith conceded that the Australian batters failed to get on top of the Indian spinners on a tacky Chepauk surface.
For India left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (3/38) was the pick of the bowlers and he was ably supported by Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin.
"All their spinners bowled really nicely. Obviously, they had the wicket to suit as well. It was challenging against the spin since they are all very quality spinners. They really worked well together, and we struggled to get on top of them," Steve Smith, who was dismissed on 46, said in the mixed zone.
Smith also praised Virat Kohli and KL Rahul for their batting. "It was game on. Unfortunately, we couldn't take it. Virat and Rahul played with a lot of composure. They played really smart cricket," Smith told media persons.
"It wasn't a kind of wicket where you could just muscle it and hit boundaries everywhere. Since they were chasing only 200, they could take a bit more time, just play themselves in, which they probably needed to after being three down early on and build a partnership that they did really well," the right-handed batter added.
According to Smith, the Chepauk track was a tricky wicket to bat on, while bowling under the lights with the dew around made it tough.
"It was a challenging wicket, and we also saw a fair bit of spin taking place, along with a bit of movement for the seam bowlers off the cracks. So, obviously, it was difficult. 200 was a little bit under par. Had we gone up and posted 250, we would have been in for an interesting game. Obviously, the dew came in the evening, making it a bit easier to bat. We can't predict it, but we had three early wickets and also could have had possibly a fourth," he added.
Australia will now take on South Africa in Lucknow and Smith opined that the Lucknow wicket will be an unknown territory for them since they haven't played there in the past.
"They (Proteas) got a good side, and they are confident at the moment. They are playing well, and we watched the game the other day. It looked like a nice surface in Delhi, and they posted a massive total. Who knows (about Lucknow's surface)? It depends on what the surface looks like and how we need to play on that. So, we wait to see till we go there and figure it out. Yeah, we have a few options that we can go in with. Marcus (Stoinis) is back with the team potentially. So, we have to wait and see how we can fit them in," he concluded.
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