Carey: We had batting options but it was few too many runs in the end

Alex Carey

Australia have the depth in their batting to chase a big total but it proved "a few too many runs" in the end against India, said Australia wicket-keeper Alex Carey.

Chasing a massive target of 353, Australia fell short by 36 runs after being dismissed for 316, despite the fifties by David Warner (56), Steve Smith (69) and Carey (55 not out).

It was an unusually slow inning from opener Warner as he took 84 balls for his knock. "We still backed the players out in the middle to get us there. If they've faced a few balls they have a better understanding of the situation. The deeper we take it, we trust our batters to soak up a few balls. They've done it in the past," Carey said.

"There are so many options but we trust the batters we have. We had a good shake at it but we were just chasing a few too many runs in the end."

Australia needed 115 runs from the last 10 over and Carey, who came to bat at no. 7, said he still had hopes of chasing the total.
"There was a job to do to go at 12 runs an over for the best part of 10 or 15 overs. It was more the state of the game that dictated the way I played. With guys like (Glenn) Maxwell and (Nathan) Coulter-Nile we still back ourselves to go out and do that. We lost a few wickets against a really good attack," he said.

"Bumrah and Kumar are really good finishers and unfortunately we fell short and didn't have that set batter as India did. Shikhar (Dhawan) played really well and the stats say if you get 120 you will win most games.

"It would have been nice to have one of our players in the top five who had 40 or 50 to go on and make a big score and win the game for us," said Carey.

Another issue that was doing the rounds were false ball-tampering claims against Australian spinner Adam Zampa during the match.

A photograph was being circulated on social media where Adam Zampa is seen putting his hand in his pocket and then rubbing the ball.

However, Australian captain Aaron Finch, came out in defense of Adam Zampa and said, "I haven't seen the photos, but I know that he has hand warmers in his pocket. He has them every single game he plays. I honestly haven't seen them, so I can't comment too much on it. But I know for a fact that he has hand warmers every game."

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