Melbourne: After Australia took a 2-1 lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, skipper Pat Cummins reckons the 184-run win over India in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground is one of the best games he’s played in.
Cummins was named the Johnny Mullagh medal awarded to the Player of the Match, named after the star player on the 1868 Aboriginal tour of England, for his amazing all-round performances in the match. Cummins hit crucial knocks of 49 and 41 with the bat, while picking figures of 3-89 and 3-28 with the ball to give Australia a memorable win.
“What an amazing Test match, I reckon one of the best I’ve been part of. All week the crowd has been ridiculous, and it’s been amazing to be part of. Marnus helped me out in that second innings big time, happy to contribute,” he said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
He also talked about how the big first-innings total and lower-order contributions got Australia to seize decisive moments in the match. “Amazing innings from Steve, winning the toss, it wasn’t easy on the first day, to get up to high 400s was terrific. We put a lot of work into our lower-order batting, we work a lot on how best to bowl to the opposition batters firstly, but also how we can contribute with the bat.”
Cummins also revealed the decision to not make an overnight declaration was to reduce chances of an Indian win. “We wanted to take an India victory out of the equation (by not declaring). We had plenty of runs to play with, and as many helmets around the bat as we could.”
“We were a bit behind on the over rate, so we thought, get Trav in there, it may help us out with that. Him bowling to Pant was an idea by the coaching staff. Very happy change room, we’ll savour this for a little bit before we get to Sydney.”
Head, who took the key wicket of Pant, said he was happy to contribute with the ball after a rare quiet Test with the bat. “I’ve had four and a half days, didn’t do much with the bat, happy to contribute. (The plan to Pant) Have everyone on the fence and bowl a rank one. Two teams went at it pretty hard, and there were moments where both teams stepped up.”
Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc said the belief in the Australian camp to win at Melbourne was ever-present. “There’s always belief in this group, it’s been a feature of this group over the years. Calmness and ability to adapt to situations.”
(IANS)
