New Delhi . Australia's head coach Andrew McDonald has said that his team will stick to its usual style of play in the third and deciding ODI. The team faces a tough challenge after losing to Pakistan by 9 wickets in the last match.
Australia will miss some of its key players in this match, including Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Marnus Labuschagne. All these players have started preparing for the BorderGavaskar Trophy starting in Perth from 22nd November.
McDonald says, “We will go to Perth with a clear plan. We will maintain the confidence we have shown in our style of play. We have won 16 out of the last 19 matches. However, the last match was not up to our potential “Pakistan controlled the game from the beginning and we didn't have enough runs to put pressure on them.”
Australia's new opening pair Matt Short and Jack FraserMcGurk are not able to give a strong start to the team right now. McDonald admitted that the team is still trying to find the right opening combination.
He said, “It is a matter of striking a balance. We have been successful in playing aggressive game in the first overs so that there is pressure on the opposition bowling. Sometimes this approach is successful and so far we have got a lot of benefit from it.”
McDonald admitted that Matt Short and Jack FraserMcGurk are not yet fully established. Short played well in England this year, but he could not perform like that in this series. Regarding Jake, he said that everyone thinks he is completely ready, but he is still in the process of learning.
MacDonald concluded by saying that his team is looking to find its best form for next year's Champions Trophy, just like it was during the preparation for the ODI World Cup in India last year. “That's the nature of ODI cricket. We didn't have the best preparation even before the World Cup, but in important tournaments everything often comes together in the end,” he said.
He stressed on improving his game in Perth and said, “We have to focus on many things in the run up to the Champions Trophy, but before that we have a Test series against India and then a challenging tour of Sri Lanka.”
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Image Credit: KhasKhabar.