New Delhi:
Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb were building a partnership that had boosted Australia in their chase of 359. On the third ball of the 31st over, Kedar Jadhav trapped Khawaja LBW for 86 and Australia opted for the review. However, replays showed that the ball was going down the leg side and Khawaja survived. As the game progressed, there was another major turning point in the match. In the fourth ball of the 44th over, Turner looked to drive a ball from Yuzvendra Chahal and he missed. There was an appeal for a stumping and a catch. Real Time Snicko showed a mark but umpire Anil Chaudhary signaled a wide which flummoxed Kohli. Turner blasted 62 runs in 3.5 overs as Australia achieved the highest successful chase by a visiting team in ODIs to level the five-match series 2-2.
Speaking after the end of the match, Kohli blasted the DRS and raised some questions on it. “DRS call was a bit of surprise for all of us and it's becoming a more of a talking point every game. It's just not consistent at all, that was a game-changing moment. The opportunities slipped away and so did the game,” Kohli remarked.
The DRS has been a bone of contention for both sides in the ongoing series. In the game in Ranchi, Rohit Sharma was visibly upset when he was given out LBW and it was not overturned by the DRS. In the same game, during Australia's innings, Aaron Finch was trapped LBW by Kuldeep Yadav for 93 and ball-tracking was not upto the mark, totally misjudging the direction which the ball would spin.
In addition to the DRS, Kohli also said that India were sloppy in the field. In the 47th over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kedar Jadhav and Shikhar Dhawan dropped Turner while Rishabh Pant missed a simple stumping off Peter Handscomb when he was on 105. “Crucial (about the stumping chance), we were sloppy in the field and should've grabbed our chances. We've had two eye-openers in two games. We can't take anything for granted. We have to work hard and we got to come up with more intensity and passion in the next game to try and win the series,” Kohli remarked.
As the game in Mohali progressed, the dew factor turned the course of the game completely. Chahal and Kuldeep finished with combined figures of 20 overs and conceded 144 runs to take just two wickets. To compound Kohli’s woes, Kedar Jadhav, who has been filling as the team’s fifth bowler, was also taken to the cleaners, conceding 44 runs in five overs. Kohli admitted that the team misjudged the conditions.
“We have been on the wrong side of the dew twice in two games. It was very difficult to bowl in the end. We had to get the fifth bowler out of the way tonight. If Kedar and Vijay was bowling with the dew, it would've been more difficult, so we wanted to get done with it first,” Kohli remarked.
The final game of the series will be played in New Delhi on March 13.
