Indian bowlers put a mini scare in the Aussie camp at rainy Gabba on day five when they sent half of the Australian batting unit back for the score of 33 before weather gods had the last laugh, ending the third Test in a draw. But captain Pat Cummins said his batters were playing according to the situation and, therefore, refused to pay much heed to the scorecard.
Australia bowled India out for 260 after the visitors saved the follow-on with the heroic last-wicket stand of 47 runs between Akash Deep (31) and Jasprit Bumrah (10*). The hosts then went after quick runs, but limped to 89 for 7 when Cummins made a challenging declaration, setting India 275 to win.
Jasprit Bumrah once again led the visitors’ bowling attack with three wickets, while Mohammed Siraj and Akash took two wickets each.
But the imminent rain allowed Indian openers to score just 8 runs before another spell arrived to seal the fate of the match as a draw.
However, Cummins came out defending his batters after a collapse while searching for quick runs. It, however, extended the failure of Australian openers, Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney.
Australia’s biggest opening stand so far in the series is 21 runs, while one-down Marnus Labuschagne has just one inning of note to show.
“We are not beholden to stats,” Cummins said, talking to the media. “We know there are certain roles and easier times to bat and harder times to bat. Just like bowlers, you are looking at the best seven batters as a unit to play the best you can.”
It remains to be seen if the Cricket Australia selectors will give a long rope to McSweeney or look at someone like teenager Sam Konstas, who hit a century for the Australian Prime Minister’s XI in the warm-up match against India.
The next match of the five-Test series, which currently stands at 1-1, will be played from December 26 in Melbourne.
“I have been impressed with the way he (McSweeney) has gone about it,” said Cummins. “Today, for someone starting out his career, he was selfless to go out and try and play his shots rather than preserve (his wicket) and get a score. He probably hasn’t got the runs he would have liked, but he has played important knocks that have set up a win in Adelaide and a good result here.”
McSweeney’s six innings so far in this BGT read 10, 0, 39, 10*, 9, 4.
