ADELAIDE: Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins heaped praise on experienced left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc following the home side’s 10-wicket victory over India in the second Test of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) on Sunday.
After a disappointing 295-run defeat in the series opener in Perth, the hosts staged a comprehensive turnaround by outplaying the men in blue in the second Test, concluded earlier today here at the Adelaide Oval.
The left-arm pacer laid solid foundation for the victory by routing India in the first innings with a six-wicket haul, which featured the scalps of Perth Test’s centurions Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli.
Mitchell Starc further diminished India’s chances in the second innings of the aforementioned fixture by claiming key wickets of Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant.
He returned brilliant match figures of 7/108.
"We know what a good unit we are, and having someone like Starc is amazing," said Pat Cummins, who registered a five-wicket haul in the second innings.
"He just does it time and time again. He's done it for over a decade now. So feel very lucky and privileged."
However, it was Travis Head, who was adjudged the player of the match, thanks to his match-winning 140-run knock in the first innings.
Head, who had scored match-winning centuries against India in the finals of the World Test Championship (WTC) and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, led Australia to a massive first innings’ lead, which eventually translated into a comfortable 10-wicket victory.
"He loves batting here," Cummins said of the southpaw.
"Again, one of those momentum shifts. The game could have gone either way when he walked out to bat and he just took it straight out of their hands."
Reacting to a crushing defeat, India’s captain Rohit Sharma shared that his team wanted to emulate the ‘special’ outcome of the Perth Test but was wary of the challenge a pink-ball Test possesses.
“What we did in Perth was very, very special, and we wanted to come out here and do that again," Rohit said.
"But every test match has its own challenge. We knew it was going to be challenging with the pink ball. Australia was better than us," he added.
Australia’s 10-wicket victory helped them level the five-match series against India 1-0, with the third Test scheduled to be played in Brisbane from December 14 to 18.
- Pat Cummins
- Mitchell Starc
