- Thursday, January 16, 2025
The former wicketkeeper-batter said it felt that captain Pat Cummins had “a grease and oil change” after the lacklustre performance at Perth
By: Shajil Kumar
LEGENDARY wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist believes Australia were “stung” by the criticism following their loss in Perth, but have returned to their best, driven by captain Pat Cummins’ controlled aggression.
Australia, who had drawn a lot of flak for the 295-run loss in the opening Perth Test, bounced back by registering an emphatic 10-wicket win in the second game to level the five match series 1-1.
“You could see just through his (Cummins) celebrations that… every wicket that he took he was more aggressive in his celebration,” Gilchrist said on Fox Cricket.
“Not in that lose control extent but you could just see that clearly they’d been stung by a bit of criticism around after their performance (in Perth) and they internally would have been so disappointed with the way they played in Perth.
“So it (Adelaide celebrations) showed you what it meant to them and they knew that they were back at the level they want to play their cricket,” Gilchrist added.
The former wicketkeeper-batter said it felt the captain had “a grease and oil change” after the lacklustre performance at Perth.
“Cummins was outstanding, he looked like if there needed a bit of a grease and oil change after Perth and a tune up, he was purring by the end of it, so that was terrific to watch.”
In the pink ball Test, the pace trioka of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland took all 20 Indian wickets with spinner Nathan Lyon bowling just one over.
“They were just a unit, the three bowlers, Nathan Lyon only had one over (in the match) and Mitch Marsh four, but other than that the big three, Starc, Boland, Cummins hunted as a pack and bowled as a unit and that was really fun to watch,” Gilchrist added.
Mark Taylor on Siraj
Former Australian captain Mark Taylor believes Mohammed Siraj has a tendency of celebrating wickets prematurely without waiting for the umpire’s decision and his senior India teammates should have a word with him.
Taylor said Siraj charges down the wicket towards his teammates, without checking the umpire’s decision when he thinks that he has got a batter out.
“I think with Mohammed Siraj, I’d like to see some of the Indian players have a chat with him, not so much what happened with Travis Head but how when he thinks he’s got a batter out he doesn’t turn around and actually acknowledge the umpire whether he’s given it out or not,” Taylor told Nine News.
“I think that’s the bad look for him and the game.”
“I love his exuberance, I love his competitive nature, I love the fact we’ve got a really good series going on but there is also the respect of the game that needs to be upheld. I think a little word from one of the senior players would go a long way.”
Siraj has become a topic of discussion after his brief showdown with Travis Head on day two of the Adelaide Test, which Australia won by 10 wickets to level the series 1-1.
Head had struck a splendid 141-ball knock of 140 before being castled by Siraj, who went on to give him an aggressive send-off following an exchange of words. The Indian endured boos from the Adelaide crowd following the confrontation.
Both players were handed one demerit point each on their disciplinary records with Siraj also receiving a fine of 20 per cent of his match fee.
Former Australia batter Simon Katich felt Siraj had a “brain fade” moment, which the Indian regretted later.
“It’s a shame that Siraj had a bit of a brain fade…there’s no need for that in the game,” Katich said SEN Radio.
“He would regret that Siraj… it was all spur of the moment and when he got Mitchell Starc out not long after that he was pretty sheepish.
“You don’t know what head space some of the players are in at times… he was probably disappointed with his performance and something like this can happen,” he added. (PTI)
