Bundled out for a paltry 151 in the first innings, pacer Pat Cummins on Friday said Australian batsmen need to learn a lot from India captain Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara on how to pace their knocks on this MCG pitch.
Cummins
Melbourne:
“It was obviously not ideal. We turned up thinking of a good first innings score and be right in the game. We wanted to take this result away from them. This is a young batting group and they are working hard. They are trying their best, but it is just one of those things. Today it didn’t come off,” Cummins said.
“What we saw from India’s first innings, we saw temperament of Pujara and Virat and how they pace their innings. They absorb pressure because on this kind of wicket, it is hard to score runs. “You have to face a lot of balls to get big scores and it is probably one of those wickets where you do the hard work early. Keep absorbing pressure and score later, but evidently it did not work for us today,” he added.
Riding on Cummins’ four for 10 figures, Australia reduced India to 54 for five in the second innings of the ongoing third Test but still trails the visitor by 346 runs.
The fast bowler said in the absence of its two best batsmen -- banned duo of Steve Smith and David Warner, others have to rise to the occasion to give India a tough fight in the remaining two days.
“It’s always going to be hard missing two of your best players. We’ve known for nine months (that Steve Smith and David Warner won’t be available). Others have to stand up. It probably highlights the class they’ve had in previous years but we’ve got find to find a way.”
Pujara and Kohli had put on 170 runs in the first innings to help India declare at a mammoth 443 for seven and Cummins said the Australian batsmen need to take a cue from the visiting duo’s temperament.
“It was obviously not ideal. We turned up thinking of a good first innings score and be right in the game. We wanted to take this result away from them. This is a young batting group and they are working hard. They are trying their best, but it is just one of those things. Today it didn’t come off,” Cummins said.
“What we saw from India’s first innings, we saw temperament of Pujara and Virat and how they pace their innings. They absorb pressure because on this kind of wicket, it is hard to score runs. “You have to face a lot of balls to get big scores and it is probably one of those wickets where you do the hard work early. Keep absorbing pressure and score later, but evidently it did not work for us today,” he added.
Riding on Cummins’ four for 10 figures, Australia reduced India to 54 for five in the second innings of the ongoing third Test but still trails the visitor by 346 runs.
The fast bowler said in the absence of its two best batsmen -- banned duo of Steve Smith and David Warner, others have to rise to the occasion to give India a tough fight in the remaining two days.
“It’s always going to be hard missing two of your best players. We’ve known for nine months (that Steve Smith and David Warner won’t be available). Others have to stand up. It probably highlights the class they’ve had in previous years but we’ve got find to find a way.”