After Australia slumped to a defeat in the opening ODI against India, pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile has backed his new-look batting line-up to click as soon as possible as 2019 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup is approaching.
Besides Usman Khawaja's 50, none of the remaining top six batsmen managed to reach the half-century mark as Australia posted a score of 236 for seven in their stipulated 50 overs.
Coulter-Nile produced a decent performance with both bat and ball scoring crucial 28 lower-order runs and finishing with the figures of 2 for 46 as MS Dhoni and Kedhar Jadhav helped India cross the mark with 10 balls and six wickets to spare.
With Australia being reduced to 173-6 with 10 overs still to bat, Coulter-Nile said that he hopes his side manage to fire with the bat ahead of the cricket mega event.
"It will click. Hopefully it clicks before the next 20 one-day internationals. The boys are too good to keep going through dry spells like 'Finchy' and the like," cricket.com.au quoted the pacer as saying.
"They'll definitely come out of it and hopefully we can put some big scores on the board for the remainder of the series," Coulter-Nile said while referring to Finch's 20 innings in limited-overs internationals without a half-century.
Earlier, Australian head coach Justin Langer praised the way Finch has conducted himself around the squad as captain despite barren patch at the crease.
Echoing similar views, Coulter-Nile said, "He hasn't been grumpy or angry or let anything overflow into his captaincy or around the boys. He's been really good. Obviously, he's not scoring the runs he wants to but he's been an absolute legend around the boys."
Australia will look to bounce back when they play their second ODI against India on March 5 at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Maharashtra.
