India vs Australia | It is always hard to miss two of your best players, says Pat Cummins

After the Aussie batsmen failed miserably in the first innings of the third Test match against the Indians at the MCG, they are on the verge of another loss in the four-match Test series. The hosts were bowled out for a mere 151 runs in the first innings giving India a massive lead of 292 runs. Cummins highlighted the absence of regular captain Steve Smith and opener David Warner who are serving a one-year ban after the controversial sandpaper gate incident in South Africa earlier this year. 

“It’s always going to be hard missing two of your best players. We’ve known for nine months (that Steve Smith and David Warner won’t be available). Others have to stand up. It probably highlights the class they’ve had in previous years but we’ve got find to find a way,” Cummins said during the press conference. 

“Everyone here is good enough. They’ve done it at the level below, all of them are the best (Sheffield) Shield players and most of them have done it for Australia before.”

Earlier in the Test match, Pujara and Kohli scored 170 runs together in the first innings to take the visitors to a huge 443/7. Both of them played a lot of dot balls and displayed good patience in the middle during their respective knocks in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test. Cummins underlined the fact the Aussie batsmen have a lot to learn from the temperament showed by both Kohli and Pujara. The Saurashtra batsman brought up his 17th Test century while captain Kohli got out for 82 to Mitchell Starc.

“It was obviously not ideal. We turned up thinking of a good first innings score and be right in the game. We wanted to take this result away from them. This is a young batting group and they are working hard. They are trying their best, but it is just one of those things. What we saw from India’s first innings, we saw temperament of Pujara and Virat and how they pace their innings. They absorb pressure because on this kind of wicket, it is hard to score runs,” said Cummins. 

“You have to face a lot of balls to get big scores and it is probably one of those wickets where you do the hard work early. Keep absorbing pressure and score later, but evidently, it did not work for us today.”