A day after Glenn Maxwell called Indian batsmen 'selfish' who, according to him, play for their 'personal milestones', Aussie captain Steve Smith and Aaron Finch said that they refuse to support the all-rounder's thoughts.
“The talk of Indian players being selfish was "obviously Glenn's view; that's not my personal view," said Finch on Friday."Virat Kohli got a 100 off 80-odd balls the other day - there was nothing selfish about that innings. That was an extraordinary, extraordinary innings.”
On Dhawan’s 95 balls hundred said that there was no selfishness in the knock and that he and Rohit gave India the perfect start, “Shikhar Dhawan got it off about 95 balls, I think. He took the game on at the start for India along with Rohit and got them off to an absolute flyer. Gee! There are some seriously good players in India. Virat - 25 ODI hundreds now. That's an unbelievable achievement", Finch added.
During the fourth ODI at the Manuka Oval in Canberra, Dhawan and Kohli, on the road to their respective centuries, put up a massive 212-run stand for the second wicket, before the Indians suffered a spectacular collapse. India was cruising at one stage, needing only 72 runs off 76 deliveries with nine wickets in hand. But from 277 for 1, they saw the match slip out of their hands and into Australia’s and ultimately lost by 25 runs.
Normal to play cautiously while near a milestone: Steve Smith
Australian skipper, Steve Smith, on the other hand, said that it was normal for a batsman to slow down while nearing a milestone.
"I think that can be natural for anyone around the world. When you see that sort of milestone coming, in the back of your mind you might slow down a little bit. I think Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are quality players and they're batting beautifully and I don't see any problem with any selfishness there."
Maxwell who scored a match-winning knock of 91 in the fourth ODI landed himself in the middle of a controversy by stating that Indian batsmen were playing for personal landmarks. "They were, probably, just making sure they got to a milestone. Some people are milestone-driven, some people aren't."
The all-rounder clarified his stance by citing Kohli’s example, who reached his 25th century and took 21 balls to get to his century after he was on 84 at t63 balls: "I think if you look back at it. I was sent a photo the other day. It said Virat was 84 off 63, and then 100 off 89 balls or something like that. He got his last 11 runs off 22 balls to get his hundred."
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