After the defeat in Sydney, Kohli raised questions against the body language of the players

SYDNEY: The long-awaited Indian cricket team suffered a 66-run defeat in the first ODI against Australia on Friday. After the defeat, captain Virat Kohli has questioned the body language of his teammates. He said that all-rounder Hardik Pandya's unfitness for bowling has affected the balance of the team. With the victory in the first match, the host team has taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Finch and Smith's centuries rocked Australia

In the first match, Captain Aaron Finch's 114 and Steve Smith's 104 helped him to 374 for six in 50 overs. The batsmen of the Indian team who came on the field failed to cross the tough target of 375 runs. Hardik Pandya played an innings of 90 but the team could only manage 308 for 8 in 50 overs. Adam Zampa was quick for four and Josh Hazlewood for three. Thus India lost by 66 runs. Captain Virat Kohli also failed and was dismissed for 21.

Kohli raised the question against the body language of the players

After the match, Captain Kohli said that every player has to show his passion in the entire 50 overs. Maybe we went into 50 overs cricket after a long time which could have an impact on the players but we have played so much one-day cricket that we know how to deal with it. "I don't think the players' gestures were good after 25 overs," he said. This is frustrating. If you don't take advantage of the opportunity against a rival team at the top level you will be harmed and that is what happened today.

Hardik Pandya is not ready for bowling

"Hardik Pandya is not ready for bowling yet and it is affecting the balance of the team," said Kohli. "We have to find a way for part-time bowlers to bowl a few overs." Unfortunately a player like Hardik is not yet fit for bowling. So we have to admit that we currently have no other all-rounder option. We need to pay attention to this matter. This is an important part of any team's balance. Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell did some overs for Australia which helped them.

The wicket was not affected

Kohli said his bowlers could not pick up wickets at regular intervals which helped Australia to score big. "Grabbing wickets is the most important thing to win a match and we failed to do that," he said. In addition we made some mistakes on the field which prevented us from taking advantage of the pressure we initially created.

No excuses

Asked if the team's performance in the IPL after reaching Australia from the UAE was in isolation, Kohli said there was a lot of time for preparation. So no excuses should be made for it. All the batsmen were committed to play. Hardik Pandya's batting was the best example of this. Notably, Hardik Pandya top-scored for the team with 90 while Shikhar Dhawan played 74 runs.