Nagpur: Australia captain Pat Cummins Saturday admitted that an embarrassing defeat like the innings and 132 runs hammering they suffered in the first Test of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India is sure to leave some psychological scars but said they will like to forget this as soon as possible, review things over the next few days and talk through things among themselves to get ready for the second match in New Delhi.
Cummins’ team which came to India with nine wins in 10 matches slumped to a huge defeat, getting bowled for 91 runs in their second innings on the third day of the match Saturday as Ravichandran Ashwin claimed 5-37. The visitors had managed 177 runs in their first innings after Cummins had won the toss and decided to bat first. Ravindra Jadeja claimed 5-47 for India in the first innings.
Rohit Sharma scored a majestic 120, Jadeja 70 and Axar Patel 84 as India scored 400 in their first innings, Incidentally, Australia’s combined score from two innings was 268, while Rohit, Jadeja and Axar among them contributed 278 runs to the Indian total.
The Australian captain said his players will need to forget all these things and work out plans to tackle the Indian spinners in a better way in the remaining Tests.
“Yeah, I think it’s sometimes kind of easier to put behind you these kinds of wins and those kinds of losses. You’re not looking for a small margin, you gotta have a really good hard look at your game and where you made some big strides that you need to change to,” Cummins said in the post-match press conference.
Australia had come to India after wins in Pakistan and Sri Lanka and were expecting tough conditions and spinning wickets.
“We’ve had a really good run the last kind of 12 months or so. Yeah, there haven’t been many losses in that changing room. I don’t think we need to reinvent the wheel. It’s just again tweaking different approaches to how we play and maybe particular methods,” Cummins said.
Cummins was also questioned on their team selection as they dropped batter Travis Head, who has done very well in the last 12 months and is ranked 4th in the ICC Rankings for batters. The Australia skipper said they had full confidence in the 11 players they had selected for the Nagpur Test.
“We were confident that this was our best 11 for this week. We know the quality batter Travis is. He is a huge part of this team. But yeah, we’re confident in the 11 guys that were out there. He’s been really good around the group. Yeah, he’s been out the nets, you know, working hard on his game like he always does,” Cummins said.
Cummins admitted that his batsmen need to be more proactive and get to the front foot against the Indian spinners.
The Australian pacer said they will use the two extra days they now have on their hand before they leave for Nww Delhi for rest and recovery and then review their plans and start preparing for the second Test. He said he was sure things will be different in the second Test and his players will do their best to make a comeback.
IANS