Despite the fact that the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli’s 41st ODI century, India faced a 32-run defeat in the third ODI against Australia in Ranchi on Friday. After electing to field first, Indian seamers failed to scalp early wickets as the opening duo of Usman Khwaja and Aaron Finch added 193 for the first wicket. Capitalizing on the platform built by the duo Australia posted 313/5 in their quota of 50 overs.

In response, India had a forgettable start as they were reeling at 27/3 in 6.2 overs. However, Kohli tried to bring the Indian chase back on track as he stitched three important partnership – 59 with Dhoni for the fourth wicket, 88 with Jadhav for the fifth wicket and 45 with Vijay Shankar for the sixth- but after his dismissal, India failed to cross the line.

Speaking during the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli said, “The guys who have got out will want to make the most of the opportunity. We don’t want collapses. We want partnerships that can get us going. In terms of hitting the ball, it was one of my finest hundreds. I just felt really clear in my head from ball one. Even after three wickets, I thought I should play my game and not think of what happens if I play my shots. I was very disappointed when I got out. I really thought we had a chance with the difference being 20 between balls and runs.”

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Praising Adam Zampa for scalping crucial wickets, the Indian skipper said, “Australia played better on the day. Adam bowled well and they won the game. We will have a few changes in the next couple of games. We have to figure out what those changes are. But the idea is to go out there and win matches and take a lot of pride in winning games for the country. That mindset will not change.”

Despite the loss, Virat feels that the players are excited and a little hiccup in the middle will help them to come back stronger.

Meanwhile, Aaron Finch expressed satisfaction over his team’s performance and said, “It was a pretty good performance by our guys. To get 300 on that wicket was really good batting performance. The way we bowled up front, we put the squeeze on and got three big wickets.”

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He further elaborated, “Usman played a fantastic knock and Zamps bowled well. I think Jhye was standout with the ball too. To be able to put pressure on world class players and to get wickets on a wicket which was easy to score with the new ball. The work he did was outstanding and Patty Cummins was at his best again.”