Had to bowl the in-between length, says Henriques after accurate show

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Sydney, Nov 29 (IANS) The depth in Australia's bench when it comes to all-rounders was quite evident on Sunday when Moises Henriques stepped in to replace an injured Marcus Stoinis and performed crucial roles first as a bowler and then as a fielder.

The 33-year-old bowling all-rounder returned with the best economy rate among Australians, conceding 4.9 runs and over and picking the key wicket of Shreyas Iyer who was building a strong partnership with India captain Virat Kohli. Henriques then plucked a catch out of thin air at short mid-wicket to send Kohli (89) back.

Henriques said that the key to bowl on the wicket was accuracy even with the change of pace. He said that he bowled an in-between length.

"(I had to) take the pace off the ball by rolling fingers on it, bowl in right areas accurately, hit the right length -- the in-between length. A length where you wouldn't be hit back right back at the sightscreen or be hit with power square of the wicket. It was pretty simple, trying to smack that length with changes of pace," he said after the match.

The Indian bowlers, barring Hardik Pandya who bowled just four overs, could not be consistent with their length.

Skipper Virat Kohli admitted that Indian bowlers could not hit the right areas.

"With the ball we were not that effective, we didn't hit the areas we wanted to consistently? we had to bowl in one area for long enough and we didn't. So the chase was steep," said Kohli, who made 89 off 87 balls.

Wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul, also the team's vice-captain, admitted that India bowlers could not use the variations in speed and bring change in pace as effectively as the Aussies could.

Asked if the bowlers had struggled to get the variations Rahul, who made 76, said, "Struggle isn't the right word, but yes, we didn't adapt quick enough."

--IANS

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