DRS could have made it interesting: George Bailey on the first ball he faced

George Bailey could have been dismissed first ball, gloving the ball off Barinder Sran, but the umpire failed to detect it.

George Bailey went onto score 112 runs in his team’s five-wicket win over India in first ODI in Perth. (Source: AP)

Australian batsman George Bailey on Tuesday said the presence of DRS could have made the half-hearted, first ball appeal against him “interesting”, suggesting that India loses by not opting for the decision review system.

On one of the flattest WACA tracks in recent times, Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 171 went in vain as Australia rode on skipper Steve Smith’s 149 and Bailey’s 112 to script a five-wicket victory in the first cricket one-dayer in Perth.

Bailey and Smith both struck centuries and milked the Indian bowling without any fuss. But the former could have been dismissed first ball, gloving the ball off Barinder Sran, but the umpire failed to detect it.

“It just caught the thigh guard a little bit I reckon. It would have been interesting on DRS to have a look at that, wouldn’t it?” said Bailey.

Bailey said that his team wasn’t really worried about the 310-run target. The hosts chased it down with ease to win by five wickets.

“It was going to be a challenging score. But we just talked about taking the game deep, and knowing the hitters that we had in the shed,” said Bailey after the match.

“Steve Smith and I weren’t that worried if the run rate got up to eight or nine. Having that knowledge in the back of your head that you could let the run rate get away from you, allowed you to focus on the next ball. And we got into a nice rhythm.”

Bailey admitted to changing his batting stance off late, something that has certainly helped him score more runs.

“I think it gets me into a better position. And since I’ve started doing it, I’ve been scoring more runs. I’m getting into a good position to hit the ball. I started doing it a little bit at the back-end of the IPL on slower wickets, keeping my shape a little longer,” he said.

“And I had a good stint at Sussex over winter, and played a little bit of second XI cricket there when I wasn’t playing the T20s or one-dayers. I guess they were in many respects glorified net sessions, so it was a good chance to practice out of the spotlight some different things. I’m aware of the fact it’s not as pretty as it might be, but it’s effective at the moment, so I’ll run with it for a bit longer,” he added.

The former Australian skipper was also full of praise for the current captain who has developed a penchant for scoring hundreds against India at will.

“There’s a handful of batsmen around the world around that same age who are just pretty awesome to watch at the moment. It’s a bit demoralising batting with him to be honest, because he just makes it look very, very easy at times. But also it’s very impressive to see the hunger for runs.

“There’s a lot of guys who have a good innings or series, but to see his mental approach and the way he structures his innings, and to finish it off as he did, to take it as deep as he did, across all formats, on top of having to captain the side – I’m just so impressed. I’m in awe of him, absolutely,” Bailey signed off.