Australian Captain Steve Smith After Loss to India: “My Wicket Fell at the Wrong Time”

Dubai: Australian captain Steve Smith admitted that his dismissal was a crucial turning point in their match against India. Smith was batting on 73 in the 37th over and seemed set to anchor the innings until the final overs.

However, he misjudged a full-toss delivery from Mohammed Shami, stepping forward to play it but missing completely. The ball crashed into his off-stump, bowling him out cleanly.

Following Smith’s departure, Australia managed to add only 66 runs in the remaining 75 balls. Despite a valiant effort from Alex Carey, who scored 61 off 57 balls, and some big hits from Nathan Ellis, Smith’s wicket gave India a firm grip on the game.

After the match, Smith said, “My plan was to put pressure on the pacers and rotate the strike against the spinners, but I couldn’t execute it well. My wicket fell at the wrong time. Had I stayed a little longer, we could have reached around 300. Alex Carey was batting well. It’s disappointing, but that’s cricket.”

Australia had set India a target of 265 runs, but Smith felt that the pitch was one of the best for batting in the tournament, and his team should have posted a bigger total.

“We had opportunities to score beyond 300, but we lost one wicket too many at key moments. If one partnership had lasted longer, we could have reached 290-300 and put pressure on India,” Smith added.

Australia’s fielding also let them down, as they dropped two catches of Rohit Sharma and missed another chance to dismiss Virat Kohli when he was on 51. However, all those catches were challenging.

“When you have only 260 runs on the board, every chance matters. But it happens—no one drops a catch on purpose. It’s part of the game,” Smith concluded.