Adelaide [Australia], December 8 (ANI): Australia Test captain Pat Cummins feels “lucky” and “privileged” to have left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc on his side after his heroics led to the hosts going level in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India on Sunday.
Starc and Cummins bowled in tandem to wreak havoc in Adelaide with the pink ball in hand. Indian batters looked clueless while dealing with Australia’s short ball ploy and their consistency even when the ball got old.
In the first innings, the seasoned left-armer demonstrated his prowess and returned with figures of 6/48. Cummins took the brunt of taking wickets on his shoulders in the second innings by picking up a five-wicket haul while spilling 57 runs in his 14-over spell.
With yet another rollicking display, Starc further claimed his stake as a pink-ball specialist with 74 wickets in 13 matches, the most by any bowler in the day-night Test.
“Having someone like Starc, he’s amazing, just does it time and time again. He’s done it for over a decade now. Feel very lucky and privileged to have him in our team,” Cummins said as quoted from ICC.
Apart from the pace duo’s explosive spells, destructive southpaw Travis Head upped the ante when Australia needed it most. He approached his innings with swiftness and claimed boundaries whenever the ball came in his hitting arc.
Whenever Head got the wing of a short-length delivery coming his way, he opened his arms to accumulate runs with his impressive strokeplay.
“It feels like every time he walks out, the game’s kind of in the balance, it can go one or two ways and, within the space of a session or so, he really takes the game out of their (India) hands, and he just pressures right back onto the opposition, hits into weird areas,” Cummins said while praising Head.
Australia didn’t miss the presence of Josh Hazlewood, who was ruled out of the Test due to a side strain, as Scott Boland proved his mettle with the ball.
He hunted down wickets at crucial junctures and ended the first innings with a brace for himself. In the second innings, he topped it up with a three-wicket haul, aiding Australia in their pursuit of a series leveller.
“Scotty just fitted in straightaway, like he always does. He probes with every ball, top of off. Hopefully, Josh is back next week. But even then Scotty is unbelievable,” he remarked. (ANI)
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