IND vs AUS 2023: We were ahead in the game but we slipped – Pat Cummins

Australia’s skipper Pat Cummins was disappointed after the visitors lost the second Test match by six wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Sunday. At the end of the second day’s play, Australia were 61-1 and had a lead of 62 runs and they were well ahead in the game.

However, the visitors collapsed like a pack of cards on the third day’s morning, losing nine wickets for only 52 runs. Ergo, they could manage 113 runs on the board and India was able to chase down 115 runs in the last innings to take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the four-match series.

Australia took an aggressive approach and a lot of their batters were dismissed while playing the sweep shot. Ravindra Jadeja was the wrecker-in-chief as the left-arm spinner returned with figures of 7-42, his best in Test matches. Jadeja took a total of 10 wickets in the Test match as he was at his best.

However, the Australian batters couldn’t show any resistance on the third day morning and it led to their downfall. There was some reckless batting from the tourists and they should have shown more gumption in the second innings.

In fact, Pat Cummins played a big slog sweep on the first ball he faced and he was cleaned up by Ravindra Jadeja and it went to show their mentality.

Pat Cummins said in the post-match presentation, “I thought 260 was a decent score in the first innings. The guys bounced back well. But India batted well, just 1-2 partnerships and you can get to that 260 mark quite easily. In the innings break, it was all even. Disappointed, we were ahead of the game but we slipped. We need a review on what could have been done differently.

He added, “(On batters getting out to sweeps) Everyone controls their own game, some balls just have your name. But we need a review on the shot choice, did we do things right? Both games were disappointing, this one in particular. We were ahead in the game and that doesn’t happen often in India. This loss hurts.”

Australia was in a commanding position at the end of the second day’s play and they will be disappointed to not make the most of the advantage they had.

The third Test match of the series will be played at the Holkar Stadium, Indore from March 1.