Pat Cummins on Melbourne Test: After Australia took a 2-1 lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, captain Pat Cummins believes the 184-run win over India in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground is one of the best matches he has played. Cummins was awarded the Johnny Mullagh Medal, named after the star player on the Aboriginal tour of England in 1868, for his outstanding all-round performance in the match. Cummins played important innings of 49 and 41 runs with the bat, while taking figures of 3-89 and 3-28 with the ball, led Australia to a memorable victory.
He said at the post-match presentation ceremony, “It was a great Test match, I think it’s one of the best matches I’ve been a part of. The crowds were amazing all week and it was great to be a part of.” Marnus helped me a lot in the second innings, happy to contribute.”
He also explained how the big first innings score and lower-order contributions helped Australia capitalize on the crucial moments in the match. Pat Cummins said, “Steve’s brilliant innings, winning the toss, it was not easy on the first day, getting past 400 was fantastic. We worked a lot on our lower order batting, we worked a lot on making the opposition batsmen First of all how to bowl, but also how we can contribute with the bat.”
Cummins also revealed that the decision not to declare the innings overnight was to reduce India’s chances of victory. Cummins said, “We wanted to take India’s win out of the equation (by not declaring). We had a lot of runs to play for, and as many helmets as possible around the bat.”
Pat Cummins further said, “We were a little behind in the over rate, so we thought that including Trav in it could help us. It was the idea of ​​the coaching staff to bowl to Pant. Very happy in the change room, Sydney.” “We’ll have a little fun with this before we arrive.”
Head, who took the crucial wicket of Pant, said he was happy to contribute with the ball after a rare quiet Test with the bat. Pat Cummins said, “I had four and a half days, didn’t do much with the bat, happy to contribute. (The plan for Pant) is to keep everyone on the fence and bowl rank one. Both teams worked very hard, And there were moments when both teams stepped up.”
Left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc said that there was always confidence in the Australian camp to win in Melbourne. He said, “There has always been confidence in this group, this has been the specialty of this group over the years. Calm and the ability to adapt to the circumstances.”
