Nobody can say we played an inferior Australia side: Shastri

Head coach Ravi Shastri on Sunday took a dig at critics who did not appreciate India's Test series win Down Under last year, saying "nobody can say we played an inferior Australia side" after his side wrapped the ODI series against full-strength visiting team. Skipper Virat Kohli had led India to its first ever Test series win on Australia soil but it had come in the absence of their key batsmen David Warner and Steve Smith, who were serving bans for ball-tampering.

"This team, the boys showed great character. Nobody can say we played an inferior Australia side. They got a thrashing in Mumbai, and then to win two games, with all the travel, and with Australia winning all three tosses," Shastri said after India's seven-wicket win in the decisive third match. Many did not rate India's Test series win in Australia highly, saying it came when Smith and Warner were not there to challenge India.

Even BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had said the even Kohli knows that the away Test series win in 2019 was not against a full-strength Australia . But both the batsmen were in Australian line-up for this ODI series, which India claimed 2-1 after losing the series-opener in Mumbai.

Shastri said key to India's win was picking "important wickets in the middle overs." PTI AT AT AT