Australia better on the day, admits Kohli

Bengaluru, Sep 28 (IANS) India skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday admitted Australia were better on the day, after the hosts registered their first defeat in the ongoing five-match One Day International (ODI) series at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.

Australia rode on a strong batting display and some excellent bowling to beat the hosts by 21 runs. Opener David Warner played a starring role with the bat scoring 124 runs off 119 ball while pacer Kane Richardson clinched three crucial wickets.

"We got a good opening partnership but we needed one big partnership after that as well. From that point of view, it wasn't a great batting performance from us. That can happen. People have off days. Umesh (Yadav) and (Mohammed) Shami bowled well. Spinners won't have good days always. Australia were really good today," Kohli said.

"With the bat, their intent was really good. They pulled things back nicely in the field. We didn't play so bad, but they were better on the day. The only respite for the fast bowlers was taking the pace off," he added.

"It (pitch) looked worse than it played. It played very well, surprised all of us. All in all, a good wicket for cricket."

Earlier, the hosts had taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series after defeating Australia in the third ODI at Indore on Sunday. It was also the first loss for India at M.Chinnaswamy here in eight ODIs since November 2003. The last defeat also came against the Australians.

India will take on Australia in the fifth and final ODI at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Sunday.