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Australia make complete mockery of Pat Cummins 'disgrace' after victory in barely two days

Fans around the world have called out Pat Cummins and the Aussies after the second Test.

riley morgan
Sports Reporter
·5-min read

Australia's defeat of India in Adelaide by 10 wickets has re-ignited the over-rate debate after Aussie great Simon Katich took aim at Pat Cummins and his team for the speed of the game. The Aussie bowling attack was way too strong with the pink ball during the Adelaide day-night clash, with Mitchell Starc taking six wickets in the first innings to help put his team on the front foot.

Cummins took five in the second innings as Australia won by 10 wickets, needing only 19 runs to seal the victory on day three. The match was over in session one on day three, which hasn't sat well with all cricket fans wanting a closer and longer contest.

Australia's defeat of India in Adelaide by 10 wickets has ignited the over rate debate with Simon Katich having a go at Pat Cummins (pictured left) and the Aussies. (Getty Images)
Australia's defeat of India in Adelaide by 10 wickets has ignited the over rate debate with Simon Katich having a go at Pat Cummins (pictured left) and the Aussies. (Getty Images)

But Cummins also copped backlash for Australia's very slow over-rate. Former Australian opener Katich was particularly critical of the over rate having claimed Cummins was not rushing his bowlers through their stride even though they were on top.

This resulted in 22 overs being bowled in around two hours of play. This could have been a result of spinner Nathan Lyon only bowling one over in the whole match due to the quicks dominating proceedings with the swinging pink ball.

Regardless, Katich labelled the over rate a 'disgrace' in a brutal takedown of the state of play. Teams are expected to reach 80 to 90 overs on a full day's play.

"I will give them a little bit of leeway for the fact they have taken four wickets. But 23 overs, in the first session, two hours of play. Not good enough," Katich said on SEN Radio on day one. "Captains are responsible. We know they are. They are generally the ones copping the fines. But the fines are not working. It hasn't changed anything. So potentially, it's going to be suspensions in Test matches. And if it is the very next Test, you are losing your skipper."

Australia missed out on the Test Championship final in 2021 because they were docked points due to a slow over rate in a match. Australia are unlikely to face sanctions this time considering they took 20 wickets across both innings in fewer than 90 overs.

However, one fan noted it was pointless talking about slow over-rates considering the match didn't even go past the first session on day three. Although plenty of cricket fans couldn't help but compare the situation to what happened to England and captain Ben Stokes, who copped it for a slow over-rate against New Zealand.

In the first Test match, both New Zealand and England were docked points in the Test Championship standings due to a slow over-rate. However, Stokes was left annoyed considering the match was over on day four with England winning comfortably.

Pat Cummins celebrates with his teammates.
Pat Cummins and the Aussies copped backlash for a slow over rate against India.

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And Stokes hit out, claiming the issue varies depending on where you are bowling around the world with South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia the most likely countries for teams to be docked points. "The most frustrating thing, from both teams' points of view, is that the game finished early, there was a result," Stokes said at a press conference last week. "But I think the frustration actually stems back to last year in the Ashes where it was the first time I really brought it up to the match referee and the umpires.

"I guess the most frustrating thing is that it's always an issue depending on where you are in the world and the style of cricket that's played. There's never an over-rate issue in Asia because of how much spin is played.

"There's so many tactical decisions that you need to make, whether that be chatting with the bowler or field changes. As a captain, I like to change things quite a lot and the field could be completely different six balls in an over. But that's not taken into consideration. And getting told to just 'hurry up' isn't going to fix it, because we're out there playing a game."

And after England and Stokes were hit with sanctions, some fans took aim Australia's over-rate and claimed they should be facing the same sanctions. However, others felt since India were bowled out in fewer than 90 overs it shouldn't matter.