Australia captain Pat Cummins attended his first press conference ahead of the first Test against India which will be played in Jamtha, Nagpur from February 9 onwards. The visiting team is currently practicing in Bengaluru on the KSCA grounds in Alur.
It has been said that India might serve up a spin-friendly track in Nagpur to set the tone for the four-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 and Pat Cummins said his team is not fretting over its spin combination as it has enough options to support veteran off-spinner, Nathan Lyon.
Australia has Ashton Agar, Mitchell Swepson, and Todd Murphy as other spinners in the squad.
“We’ve got plenty of options here (with) finger spin, wrist spin, left arm (pace) when (Mitchell) Starcy comes back. We’ll obviously pick the bowlers that we think are going to take 20 wickets. But how we split that up, we’re not 100 percent sure yet,” Cummins said to reporters.
Asked if it would be a two-pronged spin attack, he said: “I wouldn’t say it’s a given. Obviously, it’s very condition-dependent. Particularly in the first test, once we get to Nagpur we will see that.”
“The good thing is someone like Agar was in our last team, Swepson played the last two overseas tour, so a bit of experience. Murphy played in the last tour. We feel that we got a lot of support in that department for Lyon,” the skipper headed.
The 29-year-old Cummins pointed out that middle-order batter Travis Head also offers the off-spin option.
“Travis Head also bowls really good off-spin. We have to balance things. We have got plenty of variety there to choose from. We have not locked in any bowling lineup so far. I think sometimes, talking about a couple of spinners, you forget how good a lot of our fast bowlers have been in all conditions. Even some of the SCG wickets, there haven’t been a lot in them for quick bowlers, but the quick bowlers have found a way,” he added.
Cummins also talked about his Test comeback after six years when Australia toured India in 2017. The pacer, who had made his Test debut in 2011, had to wait six years before returning to the Test arena after he battled numerous injuries to his back.
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“It was my first test in six years. I just wanted to reaffirm that’s where I wanted to be in Test cricket. I really enjoyed that spell, you can’t be worried about your body or different things. You just got to go all out. I really enjoyed that.
Test cricket can be really, really harsh. you have got to accept that it’s going to be grinding times, and you got to be out for it and embrace that challenge. Coming here to India when a lot of the talks are around, big spinning wicket, it’s not always the case. You need to get into the grind at times. That role of the fast bowler, bowling a lot of overs for not a heap of reward but doing your job for your team. I really enjoy that aspect of the last tour. Much to play for this time,” he said.
(PTI inputs)
