Pat Cummins' captaincy called into question after Aussie loss to India at World Cup
The Aussie captain's tactics have raised eyebrows after the crushing loss at the Cricket World Cup.
Cricket fans are questioning whether Pat Cummins missed a trick in Australia's disastrous loss to India at the World Cup, with many believing he relied too heavily on ineffective spinners. Virat Kohli (85) and KL Rahul (97 not out) led India to victory with 8.4 overs to spare and six wickets in hand after Australia only managed 199 while batting first.
Despite the woeful batting display, the Aussies gave themselves a huge sniff when Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc ran through the Indian top order to leave them reeling at 3-2. Starc had Ishan Kishan caught by Cameron Green for a duck in the first over, before Hazlewood got Rohit Sharma lbw and Shreyas Iyer caught by David Warner.
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Kohli and Rahul then took India to 3-20 before Mitch Marsh missed a golden opportunity to get the former. Kohli top-edged a rising ball from Hazlewood up into the air, but Marsh couldn't snaffle the easy chance while running in from square leg.
After three early wickets and a huge chance off Kohli, Australia's pace bowlers appeared to be getting on top. But many felt that Cummins went to his spinners too early in the hope they would extract similar turn and bounce to what India's tweakers did.
India's three spinners bowled a combined 30 overs and returned figures of 6-104, with Australia's batters getting tied down and batting themselves into a hole. Only David Warner and Steve Smith managed to pass 30, before the Aussies were bowled out in the last over of the innings.
With India's spinners getting on top, Australia faced a whopping 174 dot balls in their innings, and went 73 balls between boundaries at one stage. They only hit two boundaries between the 16th and 39th overs, in a period where spin was almost exclusively used.
Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the slower bowlers, taking 3-28. Kuldeep Yadav also bagged 2-42 after taking the crucial wicket of Warner for 41 to halt Australia's momentum. Jadeja then took all three of his wickets in the space of 2.3 overs, as Australia went from 2-110 to 5-119 in little time.
Australia's spinners fail to fire in World Cup loss to India
Cummins would have been hopeful his spinners could produce something similar, but it went pear-shaped for the captain. Part-timer Glenn Maxwell was bowling by the 10th over and went for 0-33 from his eight overs. Leggie Adam Zampa was also unable to have much impact and went for 0-53 from eight.
The spinners certainly weren't carted around the ground, but with Australia needing wickets to have any hope of victory, many thought Cummins should have stuck with pace. With Ashton Agar a late commission from Australia's squad due to a calf injury, Cummins only has one specialist spinner at his disposal in Zampa. Smith and Warner bowled some of their part-time spin in a warm-up game against Pakistan, but their performances left much to be desired.
"We had them three for none basically with our quick bowlers, so I wasn't too upset (about the lack of spin options)," Cummins said after the game. "We still had 20 overs of spin. I think with another 50 on the board there that bowling innings looks a little bit different." Fans were quick to question why Cummins leant so haevily on his spinners when they never really looked like taking a wicket.
Pat Cummins made terrible mistakes as captain.
He bowled Maxwell 🤡before Zampa and got Zampa in 18th over when both Rahul and Kohli stitched a 50 run partnership ! https://t.co/Gzz2wNRcKv— ThatSoRevanth (@revanthbandari) October 8, 2023
Cricfan i already said pat Cummins misread the conditions. There is rain in last night and dew is obvious in Chennai. But Australia badly miss Ashton ager left arm spinner you can't go semifinal in with one genuine spinner.
— Adil Mustafa (@adilgrt007) October 8, 2023
Bad captaincy by Pat Cummins in the match against India. Why would you remove your bowler who has just taken two wickets? Also, why aren't you attacking with your leading spinner sooner? And if Rahul is struggling against Green, why did you remove him? #AUSvsIND
— Faria (@FariaSays) October 8, 2023
It’s simply poor captaincy from Pat Cummins. This target was defendable - they had a dream start and then they dropped Kohli and failed to maintain the momentum #INDvsAUS
Btw, Nathan Lyon would most likely be called to strengthen their spin attack https://t.co/0aT2Xla22N pic.twitter.com/2hJsqSHGkv— Susanta Sahoo (@ugosus) October 8, 2023
Team selection is pathetic. Steve Smith should have given the captaincy instead of Pat Cummins. If Australia don't improve, then they may not qualify for the semi-final.
— Tamajit Sarkar (@SarkarTamajit) October 8, 2023
My take
- Very defensive captaincy by Pat Cummins.
- If you had 3 batters within first 5 overs then He should have tried Zampa with maxi on the other.
- Catches win the matches.
India has to be serious about top three batters.
- Very careless shots by both shreyas and Kishan— Batman𝕏 (@hrxtr2022) October 8, 2023
What on earth happened to Pat Cummins? He should have damn well held onto these fiery fast bowlers for a solid 20 overs straight! And this is when India was only for three! I mean seriously does he have any clue about captaincy?!#INDvAUS
— Hamaad (@SherlockKherloc) October 8, 2023
with AAP
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