MELBOURNE: Australia’s captain Pat Cummins revealed the game plan behind the ball he bowled to dismiss former Pakistan captain Babar Azam on the second day of the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Wednesday.
Pat Cummins dismissed Babar Azam with a back-of-a-length ball just outside off-stump, which swung inwards and rattled the stumps through Azam’s defence.
Cummins opened up about the tactics behind the ball which sent Babar Azam back to the pavilion during the post-match press conference.
“It’s a dream ball – that’s what you try and bowl most balls, but it’s rare that it comes off. Really happy with that one,” said Cummins.
“That wasn’t a deliberate ball to seam in. That’s 50-50, whether it’s going to seam in or out. I try and create a bit of an angle, and if I don’t know what it’s doing, hopefully, the batter doesn’t know either.”
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“Swing is a bit more predictable – the batter sees it a bit earlier and the margins are a bit smaller. I try and swing the odd one but it’s rare – most of the time, I’m trying to get a bit of seam off the wicket,” he concluded.
Babar Azam has been struggling on the Australian tour with scores of 21 and 14 during the Perth Test, which was followed by a score of 1 during the ongoing second Test.
While Pat Cummins led Australian bowling with the figures of 3-37 to reduce Pakistan to 194-6 at the stumps of the second day, after the hosts were bowled for 318 earlier in the day.
Pakistan will resume their innings on the third day with Mohammad Rizwan (29) and Aamir Jamal (2) on the crease, while Australia is leading by 124 runs.
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