Pat Cummins is described as the No.1 bowler in the world for a reason. The Australian quick gets rid of the top batsmen in the opposition on a regular basis and he is the perfect foil to the Australian trio of Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. In 2018/19, the Indian cricket team managed to win a series for the first time in Australia and the main reason was Cheteshwar Pujara and his tally of 523 runs which included three centuries in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. Now, in the third Test of 2021 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Pat Cummins has shown why he is considered one of the best bowlers in the business with his sublime spell of bowling in the post-lunch session.
Cheteshwar Pujara had already consumed 174 balls to reach his 50. It was the slowest fifty in the history of Cheteshwar Pujara’s career even by his own standards. Pujara had shared a partnership in excess of fifty with Rishabh Pant and the duo were looking for a repeat of their 2019 performances. However, Josh Hazlewood sent back Rishabh Pant for 36 and then came the moment of the match. Pat Cummins bowled a short of a length ball in the channel outside off. Cheteshwar Pujara was tempted into poking at that and he fell for 50. After being dismissed for 0 in Adelaide, Cummins had gotten rid of Pujara twice in Melbourne. With the wicket in Sydney, Cummins has dismissed Pujara six times in Tests but his feat of dismissing Pujara four times in a single series is magnificent. This is the first time that Pujara has been dismissed by a single bowler four times in a series.
The wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara was exactly what Australia needed as they got a massive boost in the post-lunch session. This opened the floodgates for the Indian cricket team as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Ravichandran Ashwin was run-out for 10 and it was the second run-out of the innings after Hanuma Vihari was run-out for 4 by a direct hit from Josh Hazlewood.
In this whole series, apart from Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane have been run-out in the matches in Adelaide and Melbourne. This was the first time since 1989 that four out of India’s top-eight batsman have gotten run-out at least once in the series. In the India vs Pakistan series in 1989, the likes of Sanjay Manjrekar, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar and Manoj Prabhakar were all run-out. However, when Jasprit Bumrah was run-out, it was the first time in their Test history that three batsmen were run-out in the first innings.
Australia look good for a big lead but unless Ravindra Jadeja is there at the crease, India will be hoping to limit some of the damage.