Australian players were struggling all through the Kolkata ODI. The heat and the humidity took a toll on the Australian players as they were continuously asking for drinks break before the legitimate one. Fast bowlers were seen taking help from the physio, using an icepack to beat the heat and survive. Skipper Steven Smith used his fast bowlers wisely, bowling them in short spells. Wicketkeeper Mathew Wade was seen on all fours multiple times after the completion of 15-20 overs. Australian pacer Pat Cummins too felt that heat was too much to bear. He was seen hydrating on the boundary and often leaving the field, he bowled in short spells because of the weather.
How Cummins struggled at Eden Gardens, Kolkata-
“It felt similar to Dhaka, I reckon, just below Chittagong,” Cummins said when asked to compare the conditions in West Bengal to those in Bangladesh. “But that’s the hottest one-day game anyone said they’ve played. I think the 50 overs felt like it was about 200 overs out there. “You only had to look at ‘Wadey’ (wicketkeeper Matthew Wade), it was 15 overs in and he was on all fours. So it’s not great conditions.”
“You pretty much try and change all your clothes because they’re just sodden through with sweat,” Cummins said. “If you’ve got strapping you try and get that re-strapped. You just try and get one or two overs just to cool down and have some ice blocks, change all your gear and try and freshen up,” how Cummins countered the heat in the second ODI.
Pat Cummins on how difficult it was to handle the heat in Kolkata #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/z8dzEv27fg
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) September 23, 2017
Cummins disappointment on Australia’s batting collapse-
“As a player and a teammate it’s frustrating when it’s out of your control,” Cummins said of the batting collapse. “We got in a position in both games where we could’ve taken the game away from India.
“It was unfortunate that there was a couple of wickets but we’ve just got to try and find a way to fix that up. There’s [sic] still three games left so we can still win the series. I thought it was a great effort from the five or six bowlers. There were no big overs so I think to keep them to 250 on a really good batting wicket and batting conditions in the afternoon, I thought it was a great job.”
JUST IN: Cummins to skip India T20s with eye to Ashes https://t.co/FHXloXpnOG pic.twitter.com/uDasToVkIB
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) September 22, 2017
Cummins has been ruled out of the T20I series of Australia’s tour of India. He is supposed to leave for Australia after Nagpur ODI. The Delhi Daredevils player will be playing in the third ODI which will be do-or-die for the visitors at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore.
