India seamer Arshdeep Singh on Sunday said that the rain delay made it difficult for the visiting batters to maintain their concentration, resulting in a poor batting effort and an eventual seven-wicket defeat to Australia in the first ODI at the Optus Stadium here on Sunday.  

“If you spend time on this wicket, then the runs were coming, but it was very important to spend time on the wicket whoever was set. We saw the partnership between KL [Rahul] and Axar [Patel]. But with frequent stoppages, it became very difficult for the batter to maintain concentration. Credit also goes to Australian bowlers. They bowled in very good areas, they got a lot of help from the wicket,” Arshdeep said at the post-match press conference.