'Can't attack Ashwin, hence pace bowlers were our only hope' - James Faulkner

James Faulkner’s all-round skills were on show against India at Mohali

After scoring a stunning 64* off 29, in a chase of 304, to help Australia win the third One-Day International against India at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali, James Faulkner explained the rationale behind going hammer and tongs against the pace bowlers as against being more conservative against off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the death overs.

Faulkner has been quoted as saying by Times of India:” I didn’t feel I could get Ashwin over to the long boundary, with his carom balls. So I thought if I could just get seven or eight off him and target the other end … that was our only chance of winning, to take 20 runs each from the medium pacers.”

When asked if Ishant Sharma, whom he hit for 30 runs in a single over to seal the match in Australia’s favour, choked under the pressure, Faulkner said:” There is always pressure to bowl at that stage, I know that as I have done that a few times for Australia. It’s just a matter of if you can execute [your skills] or not. There are going to be days when you would look silly out there, and that has happened to me a lot of times. But there are other time when you might bowl a really good over and win it for the team.”

At a point of time, Australia needed 88 runs off the last 8 overs with just four wickets in hand, and it was expected that, for Australia to stand a chance, the well-set Adam Voges needed to play out of his skin. But as it turned out Voges scored only 21 runs thereafter to end up on 76* off 88 deliveries.

On Voges’ knock, Faulkner had this to say:” It was a very good innings from Vogsy. It’s clear that you struggle early in the innings, but to battle the way through like he did and help me out when I was struggling initially, I think he batted exceptionally well with a mature head.”

He concluded by saying,” Both teams are ranked 1 and 2 for a reason and you have season how close the games have been. It was a kick in the guts, the second game in Jaipur. To score 360 and have them chase the total one down was really disappointing. We knew we had to bounce back with a good game tonight and now we are 2-1 up in the series. It’s going to be a really tough contest for the next four games.”