Pat Cummins makes admission about Australia's capitulation against India in second Test

Kieran Francis

Pat Cummins makes admission about Australia's capitulation against India in second Test image

Pat Cummins has admitted Australia's batters got their tactics wrong in the second Test capitulation against India in Delhi.

Australia were looking comfortable in their second innings at 1-65 with a lead of 66 before an extraordinary collapse saw the visitors lose 9-48 to be bowled out for 113.

Four Aussies were dismissed playing a sweep shot, including Steve Smith, Matt Renshaw, Cummins and Matt Kuhnemann.

MORE: India vs Australia 2nd Test: Day 3 final scores, highlights, analysis and talking points

After India cruised to victory, successfully chasing 114 with the loss of only four wickets, Cummins spoke of his regret about Australia's sweep-happy batting tactics.

"I thought they bowled really well, it's not easy out there, but perhaps some guys went away from their methods," Cummins said.

"Each batter has their own way to go about it. I don't think there's any one-size-fits-all rule.

"Unfortunately, quite a few of us got out with kind of cross-batted shots which might not be our preferred method."

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Indian veteran Cheteshwar Pujara gave Australia a lesson in Indian conditions, explaining the Delhi pitch did not suit batters using the sweep shot.

"If you look at this pitch, it's not an ideal shot to play because there's low bounce," Pujara told the host broadcaster.

"If there's enough bounce I might play that. But it is difficult … if you can move your feet, get close to the ball, or play on the back foot, then it's better on turning tracks. 

"I've always done that throughout my career and it's helped me a lot."

Intriguingly Australia didn't play a single sweep shot in the second innings in Nagpur, aside from Alex Carey and his regular reverse sweeping.

Cummins admitted the defeat reminded him of Nagpur, but this was a golden opportunity lost for Australia to level the series.

“Disappointing, because this game was a similar story to Nagpur (in the) second innings - felt like we were in a really good position for most of it, probably a few runs short in the end,” Cummins said.

“I don’t think shock is the right word, we’ve played a lot of fast paced Test matches, especially over here, one session can seem a lot longer than two hours. 

“I’d say just more disappointment, knowing that over here these opportunities don’t come up all the time, especially being relatively in front of the game, feeling like that game was there for the taking.”

Kieran Francis

Kieran Francis Photo

Kieran Francis is a senior editor at The Sporting News based in Melbourne, Australia. He started at Sportal.com.au before being a part of the transition to Sporting News in 2015. Just prior to the 2018 World Cup, he was appointed chief editor of Goal.com in Australia. He has now returned to The Sporting News where his passions lay in football, AFL, poker and cricket - when he is not on holiday.