All summer I’ve been asking the question why is Pat Cummins, Australia’s most successful quick, a change bowler?
Having been howled down by countless Roarers, who kept saying change bowling was why Cummins has been so successful, last night he had first use of the shiny, hard new ball and sent the dangerous Rohit Sharma packing in his first over.
Cummins finished with the best figures of 4-29 off nine, with 39 dot balls and the best economy rate of 3.22.
If it hadn’t been for the extraordinary brilliance of man of the match Virat Kohli’s 40th ODI ton, Australia would not have lost by just eight runs.
So Australia is down 2-0 in the five-game series, but this was one that got away.
Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja gave Australia a far better start than usual, with an opening stand of 83, but as is so often the case both were dismissed within six deliveries of each other.
Good to see captain Finch get to 37, even if it took him 53 deliveries. It was also encouraging to see his head over the ball, and not outside it, which closed the gap between bat and pad.
But both Finch and Khawaja were dismissed when they were in control, and that was a waste.
Shaun Marsh hasn’t played for a while, after recovering from a hamstring and being late on tour for the birth of his daughter.
He could be forgiven for that, but why Glenn Maxwell pottered about like an old hen scoring four singles, with 14 dot balls, defies description.
He was the undisputed man of the historic two-match T20 series, but last night Maxwell was on another planet, as were Peter Handscomb and Alex Carey with their dismissals.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Handscomb had a brain fade, striking the ball to backward point, and calling for a run, where bullet-arm Ravi Jadeja was ready to pounce. No Usain Bolt, the inevitable happened and Handscomb was run out for 48 off 59.
Carey wasn’t much better, sweeping across the line when a cover drive was called for – and lost his castle with 22 off 24.
Both were batting with Marcus Stoinis and had they stayed, Australian would have romped in.
Stoinis showed great control in getting to 52 off 65 until he too played across the line instead of hitting straight – and the game was lost.
There was a lot to like about the Australians, but they keep gift-wrapping their wickets away.
Five of the ten Aussie wickets were lost playing across the line instead of the safer way of hitting in the V between mid-off and mid-on.
One run and the odd four would have been more productive than walking back to the shed, shaking the head.
Let’s see if the Australians can learn from their self-imposed mistakes in game three at Ranchi on Friday.
The Aussie needed every centimetre of his height and reach to reel that one in!
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