Two of the world’s finest Test-playing nations are set to face off in a five-match series beginning in November and Australia will look to take the coveted title off India’s hands following the men in blue’s recent record in the the upcoming edition of the Border- Gavaskar Trophy down under.
Australian skipper Pat Cummins opined that his sides need to negotiate well with the Indian bowling attack spearheaded by star seamer Jasprit Bumrah if they are to win the coveted event.
“I’m a big fan of Bumrah. I think he’s a fantastic bowler. Hopefully, if we can keep him quiet, that is going to go a long way to winning the series,” Cummins said.
“Alongside him, he has got some other guys who haven’t played a lot over here in Australia that we haven’t seen a lot of. We’ll see how it goes,” he added.
Cummins said Australia will lean on happy memories of winning the last two ICC finals — World Test Championship and ODI World Cup — against Rohit Sharma’s India.
Cummins led Australia to the ICC World Test Championship and the ICC ODI World Cup titles with wins over the Indian side.
The pacer also went on to praise the Indian side and their organisation but sought to take inspiration from the victories.
“The last two series were a long time ago. We have got over it,” he said.
“I’ve never played alongside Rohit Sharma, so I don’t know him super well. But it has looked like the Indian team are pretty organised, pretty well-planned,” the seamer added.
“Fortunately, over the last few years, we’ve had some success in the World Test Championship final and in a different format for the ODI World Cup. We’ll be trying to lean on those memories. As I’m sure they’re trying to remember some of the previous series over here as well,” he said.
Cummins also lauded the brilliance of Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara, and opined that the series would feel different citing the veteran batter’s absence.
“It was always great playing against Pujara. He was one of those guys who never really felt like he was getting away from you. But then he would just bat, bat, bat and bat,” Cummins said.
“I really enjoyed the contest against him. Some days he won, other days I won. It’s going to have a bit of a different feel without him. Pujara is a great player,” the Aussie skipper added.
“I had lots of battles against him over the years. I quite enjoyed them, to be honest. It was real Test cricket. He might score runs, but you always feel like you’re in for a chance,” the 31-year-old continued.
“It comes down to almost who wants to outlast each other, which I quite like that aspect of Test cricket. It’s going to be a shame that he is not there, but I’m sure they’ll pick someone else who’s in a similar kind of style,” he signed off.
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