"It's disappointing, especially from my end" - Sean Abbott accepts responsibility for Australia's poor outing with ball in 2nd ODI against India
Australian seamer Sean Abbott lamented repeating the same mistakes as the Men in Yellow suffered their fifth successive ODI loss in a poor lead-up to the 2023 World Cup. The New South Welshman took ownership of the situation, ruing a disappointing powerplay in the second ODI after a promising one in the first.
Australia crashed to a 99-run loss in a rain-hit game in Indore on Sunday, having been left to chase 317 in 33 overs. In 50 overs, the tourists leaked 399, headlined by twin centuries from Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer alongside fifties from KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav.
At a post-match press conference, Abbott, who took a wicket for 91 runs in 10 overs, observed how Australia have not bowled in the right areas in India and South Africa.
"It showed today when we were bowling, and it was a little bit the same in South Africa, every ball that missed the stumps was put away to the fence," he said. "It's not surprising … if you don't execute like we did today, and last game, they're just going to dine out and we're not putting them under much pressure. It's disappointing, especially from my end. I'd had a poor Powerplay (after) a pretty good Powerplay last game."
The 31-year-old also pointed out how good the batters are at this level, pouncing on anything loose.
"But I pride myself on the areas that I bowl and putting pressure on the batsman that way and I've just noticed this tour, so far in these first two games and then in South Africa, the batters are just too good; as soon as you're off the stumps or pitching outside leg, they're not going to miss out. When we missed the stumps, especially up top, we were punished pretty badly, and we didn't execute greatly with the ball," he added.
Abbott top-scored with 54 as he slammed a 29-ball half-century, laced with four fours and five towering sixes, adding 77 with Josh Hazlewood. Hazlewood was also their best bowler, bagging figures of 10-0-62-1.
"We're doing some right things moving into the World Cup" - Sean Abbott
Despite admitting Australia's apparent mistakes, Abbott remains confident of turning things around quickly as the World Cup beckons. He added:
"I feel like I've made some of the same mistakes a couple of games in a row now. But I still feel like my game is in a good place and going in the right direction, I've just got to get out there and do it, and I know a couple of other guys feel the same. We're doing some right things moving into the World Cup, we just haven't put them out there on the park yet so I'm confident we can turn that around pretty quickly."
The third and final ODI will take place on September 27 in Rajkot.