Australia captain Adam Gilchrist on Saturday night informed that his team was keen to continue after the rain break, despite the wet outfield, in the first one-day international against India in Bangalore.
India were 9 for 1 in 2.4 overs, chasing a huge target of 307, before heavy rain halted the game for around two hours. If play had resumed India would have had to score a daunting 165 in 20 overs to win the match in conditions that had become more difficult after the heavy outburst.
Clarke thunders before rain plays spoilsport
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni rightly said: "There is a very fine margin between foolishness and bravado."
It was a clear indication that Indians were not keen on coming back to bat despite the opposition being all set to go.
Michael Clarke scored a brilliant 130 to rally Australia after a few early wickets saw them being reduced to 90 for 4.
"I was keen to play; that's what the discussion was about. The umpires were basically discussing whether I was happy to take my team out to field in those conditions, which I was happy to. But, as a result, the umpires and the match referees deemed that the field was unfit to play. That is the decision and that is what we will go by," Gilchrist said.
Sourav Ganguly was missing from the field for most for the time when India fielded and did not come out to open. Dhoni later clarified that he was down with what probably looks like a hamstring strain.
"We will have a scan tomorrow, but it looks like a hamstring," he said.
The Jharkhand batsman also said that he was not nervous in his first outing as captain in 50-over cricket in front of his own countrymen.
"Twenty20 captaincy helped me a lot. It didn't feel different. I was probably nervous when I was captain in the first Twenty20 match. The wash-out helped me to ease," Dhoni said.
For centurion Clarke, too, it was a disappointment like the rest of his team mates.
"It is good to score a hundred, but I guess it is a bit of waste."
"For me, spending some time in the middle was fantastic. I didn't get much time during the Twenty20 World Cup because the boys were doing such a good job up the order. So for me it was great to just spend some time in the middle," he added.
