Pat Cummins savaged over 'horrible' moment in Aussie loss in second Test

Pat Cummins has come under heavy fire in the wake of Australia's humiliating loss to India in the second Test, with the Aussie captain's dismissal on day three copping plenty of heat. The Aussies suffered a horror collapse of 9-48 on Sunday, with the tourists' tactics to sweep every ball backfiring brutally.

Six of Australia's 10 dismissals came while playing sweep shots, with Cummins' the worst of the lot. The Aussie captain came to the crease with his side reeling at 6-95 after they'd just lost Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Peter Handscomb and Matt Renshaw in quick succession.

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But rather than bunker down and try and restore some calm, Cummins played a wild slog across the line of a Ravi Jadeja delivery and was clean-bowled first ball. The horror dismissal reduced Australia to 7-95 as they were bowled out for just 113.

That handed India the relatively easy target of 114 for victory, which they chased down with six wickets in hand. The crushing loss means Australia's hopes of winning the Border Gavaskar trophy are over in less than six days of cricket, following their loss by an innings and 132 runs in the first Test in Nagpur.

“I’m disappointed, I’m shell-shocked, I’m angry about the way we went about our work today,” Allan Border said on Fox Sports. “It was panicky, frenetic batting.

"No one tried to get in there and stem the flow with some good defensive cricket. They were just getting out playing sweep shots, reverse sweeps to just about every ball.

“You just can’t get away with that on this sort of track. You’ve got to have a method where you play within your limitations. You’re not playing on a flat belter where you can expand your game. When playing on a difficult surface, you’ve got to work out where your scoring options are and bat some time at the crease.”

Cricket world turns on Pat Cummins over 'horrible' shot

Mike Hussey took particular exception to Cummins' first-ball dismissal. He said: “That’s just a horrible shot from the captain. He’s thought ‘I’m just going to get a quick 30’ to change the momentum of the game and get our lead up as much as we could.”

Brendan Julian added: “That’s terrible. I don’t know what he was thinking Pat Cummins. First ball, I reckon he just thought ‘I’m going to be positive’ and panicked.”

Matthew Hayden, who regularly used the sweep shot to his advantage in India, said the Aussies went way too far with their aggressiveness and use of the shot. “I can’t believe what I’ve just witnessed here,” he said in commentary.

“(They’ve gone) way too far. These are world class players and they have everything to win and everything to lose in this session. They did it so well last evening.

“What we’ve seen here is a disaster for Australia. It’s a disaster because they’ve gone way over the edge in terms of their aggressive play.

“What professional in life just hopes? No way. You’ve got to have a method and you have to think on your feet. You’ve got about 13 people in that dug out not playing the game all having their say on it.”

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Cummins admitted the Aussies got their game plan wrong in the second innings. "I'm probably as much to blame as anyone else there," he said.

"Two big things we talk about is the tempo of the game and the method. Maybe at times a little bit too high tempo. I'd rather be high tempo than low tempo though, if those wickets are being difficult, but maybe the method went a little bit away from what we planned to do at times."

Australia's collapse of 9-48 was their third-worst in the third innings of a Test match. The only times they've produce worst was in Cape Town in 2011 (9-36) and during a match against the World XI in 2005 (9-47) when they were already in a winning position.

with AAP

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