India vs Australia 2020: 'I am allowed to experiment a little bit and fail at times', says Virat Kohli 

The visiting Australians outplayed the home team in their 10-wicket win in the first ODI at the Wankhade Stadium in Mumbai yesterday. The humiliating defeat has put India in a spot of bother in the three-match series but skipper Virat Kohli sounded upbeat about the series going India's way. He stated that the experiment with the batting order was justified owing to the good form of all three top-order batsmen and that he was allowed to fail on certain occasions if the cards didn't come out right.

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India got off to a slow start and lost wickets at regular intervals to be bundled out for only 255 runs. Kohli's tweaking of the batting order didn't pay off as he failed to score big again. He also explained that the home team gave too much respect to certain bowlers rather than taking them on.

"We were outplayed in all three departments. It’s a very strong Australian team and if you don’t play well enough they will hurt you and we saw that... With bat in hand, I don’t think we had enough intent to go out there and take risks, get those extra runs and put the bowlers under pressure.”

"I think in phases we were too respectful of the bowlers... We didn’t take the game by the scruff of its neck. Having said that it’s another challenge for us to bounce back from here.”

Shikhar Dhawan (left) and KL Rahul (right)

Kohli reflected on his decision to come down the batting order and told that the team management will have a rethink on the same before the second ODI in Rajkot on January 17.

“We’ve had this discussion many times in the past as well. Because of the way KL has been batting, we have tried to fit him in the batting line-up. But I don’t think it’s gone quite our way whenever I batted at four so probably will have to rethink about that one.”

The Indian skipper reiterated his stance of experimenting and failing at times without panicking. According to him, putting new players under the pump in a tough situation brings out the best in them and showcases their character. He said that allowing new guys was part of a process with a view on the long-term plan.

It’s about giving some guys opportunities. Every now and then, it’s about putting people up there and testing them. People need to relax and not panic with one game. I am allowed to experiment a little bit and fail at times. Today was one of the days it didn’t come off.”

India play the second ODI in Rajkot on January 17 followed by the final match in Bengaluru's M. Chinnaswamy stadium two days later.