India vs Australia: Pat Cummins had lot to worry, forgot about bowling himself in 2nd Test, says Allan Border

Australia
conceded
the
four-match
series
for
the
Border
Gavaskar
Trophy
after
losing
the
opening
two
Tests
in
Nagpur
and
Delhi.

Cummins,
who
had
faced
just
one
defeat
as
captain
before
coming
to
India,
was
the
sole
quick
in
the
Australian
playing
XI
in
the
six-wicket
loss
in
Delhi.
He
bowled
just
13
overs
in
the
first
innings
and
didn’t
bowl
at
all
in
India’s
second
essay.

“To
me,
the
fast
bowler,
it’s
always
fraught
with
danger,”
Border
told
SEN
Radio.
“I
thought
Pat
grossly
under-bowled
himself
in
that
Test
match.

“There
were
opportunities
when
things
were
starting
to
go
stray,
particularly
in
the
Indian
first
innings
when
we
had
them
on
the
ropes
and
they
formed
a
good
partnership,
a
couple
of
blasts
from
him
running
in
and
bowling
some
short
stuff
for
two
or
three
overs….”

Australia
had
reduced
India
to
139
for
7
before
Axar
Patel
and
Ravichandran
Ashwin
shared
a
114-run
stand
to
take
India
to
just
one
run
short
of
the
visiting
team’s
first
innings
total.

“There
are
other
guys
out
on
the
field
I
suppose
who
could
go
to
the
captain
and
say,
‘mate,
why
don’t
you
have
a
bowl’?”
Border
said.

“But
I
just
thought
this
is
Pat’s
first
real
test
as
a
captain,
the
rest
has
been
plain
sailing,
you
go
to
the
sub-continent
and
all
of
a
sudden
you
get
tested
out
in
all
sorts
of
areas.

“He’s
worried
about
lots
of
different
things,
he
forgot
about
himself
bowling
I
think.
That’s
what
can
happen
in
those
situations
when
your
premier
fast
bowler
is
your
captain.”

However,
Border
was
also
sympathetic
towards
Cummins.

“There
is
a
lot
going
on,
even
if
you’re
the
captain
in
those
situations
and
you’re
a
batter.
People
don’t
really
appreciate
how
tough
it
is,
it’s
a
really
different
place
to
play
the
game
in
the
sub-continent,”
he
explained.

“You’ve
got
to
have
your
wits
about
you,
that’s
for
sure…
when
it’s
not
going
right
and
it’s
going
south,
it
goes
south
very
quickly.”

Former
wicketkeeper
Ian
Healy
felt
Cummins
lost
the
“mind
power”
to
set
the
field
properly
in
the
second
innings.

“Then
the
mental
stress
that’s
involved
in
getting
your
field
right,
he
didn’t
seem
to
have
that
in
the
last
innings.

“He
still
had
men
on
the
boundary
instead
of
extra
catchers
around
the
bat…
that
takes
a
lot
of
mind
power
to
keep
it
all
together
thinking
about
that
and
(bowling
changes).”

Cummins
has
flown
back
home
from
the
tour
of
India
due
to
a
“serious
family
illness”
following
the
second
Test.
He
is
expected
to
return
to
India
for
the
remaining
two
games
of
the
Border-Gavaskar
trophy
in
Indore
and
Ahmedabad.