There is no one better than Pat Cummins in the world at the moment.
The No 1 ranked Test bowler produced another mind-boggling spell on the morning of day two of the second match between India and Australia in Melbourne on Sunday. Bowling unchanged for the first hour, Cummins produced two moments of magic for his side. After dismissing Shubman Gill, in his seventh over of the spell, Cummins came up with another unplayable delivery for Cheteshwar Pujara.
The India No 3 had done well till that point to play with soft hands or get beaten by the really good deliveries. But this one, pitched full, took the outside edge and captain Tim Paine came up with a screamer behind the wickets. It was redemption of sorts for Paine, who had put down a catch earlier in the session.
Follow Scroll.in’s coverage of the India’s tour of Australia here.
Day 1 recap here.
A pearler of a pluck from Paine! And it's the big wicket of Pujara too!@hcltech | #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/q4rFhCb7Yj
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 27, 2020
Tim Paine that is a 𝗦𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗥 😱😱😱
— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) December 27, 2020
Catches don't get much better than this! pic.twitter.com/ac33AuPuvY
The kind of catch @tdpaine36 just pulled off doesn’t just happen. It comes with lots and lots of practice, which he loves putting in. Here he is on the eve of the opening game of the #SheffieldShield #AusvIND pic.twitter.com/fhms3qzi5g
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) December 27, 2020
A resilient India bounced back from their embarrassing first Test exploits to bundle out Australia for just 195 and take a grip on a riveting opening day of the second Test in Melbourne Saturday.
After their horror show in Adelaide last week, where they lost by eight wickets and were skittled for 36 in their second innings, the tourists were desperate to start well in Melbourne.
And they delivered after Australian Paine won the toss and chose to bat in front of 27,615 socially-distanced fans, just short of the maximum allowed under coronavirus restrictions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The visitors had made four changes to the team that was beaten by eight wickets in the opening Test at Adelaide
(With AFP inputs)