Missed opportunities and some wrong decision with the bat cost us the series: Darren Lehmann

Australian coach Darren Lehmann spoke about a few moments that destroyed Australia’s hopes of winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but is mighty impressed with his young’s team approach. Australia started the tour very strongly as they recorded a huge win over the Indians at Pune restricting them to low totals in both the innings. But credit needs to be given to a champion Indian side that fought back extremely well to edge the series 2-1 leaving the Australians disheartened.

After losing the second Test at Bangalore, Peter Handscomb and Shaun Marsh did pretty well to force a draw in the third. But Steve Smith’s men could not repeat the way they performed at Pune in the final test at Dharamsala and ended up on the losing side. Amidst the negatives, skipper Steve Smith was definitely a positive for the Australian side as he showed class and confidence throughout the series ending it as the highest run-getter of the same.

However Australian coach Darren Lehmann looks pleased with the way his young team has handled the Indian media. He is also confident that the team will only get better with time as there is no end to learning.

“They’ve been difficult conditions … (but) they haven’t whinged once, they’ve been just getting on with the game. They’ve copped a lot from the Indian media. I’ve been pleased with the way they have handled it. We have decided we are going a different way about the way we play. Obviously we’re less aggressive than we have been in the past.”

“The young group will grow. They will get better, we’ve just got to keep learning”

Lehmann highlighted the fact that there were some errors in fielding and with the bat which took the away the games from them at Bangalore and Dharamsala. But he is delighted with his players and the way they have performed throughout the series against the number one team in the world.

“We were disappointing in a couple of Test matches. We got so close yet so far. One hundred runs short in this game and probably 80 runs in Bangalore. If we made better decisions with the bat, we’re getting those (wins). We weren’t good enough in this series … we missed big opportunities to win the series. I’m pleased and proud of the lads … we just fell short in the crucial stages.”