In Pat Cummins’s batting Australia trusts: Maxwell

VISAKHAPATNAM:IN Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell trusts, especially when the fast bowler has just come in to bat in the last over with Australia needing 14 to win.

“I did mention to Finchy (skipper Aaron Finch) that if anyone can, it would (be) Pat Cummins. For him to keep a cool head, hit a gap on the off-side against a guy (Umesh Yadav) who hit three of the six yorkers, it was just good batting,” said Maxwell after Sunday’s three-wicket win in the first T20 International here.

Maxwell said he hopes this can help Australia begin World Cup preparations on a “good foot”. “I told JL (coach Justin Langer) that a lot of the times when you get these close games, you lose them often with the home crowd getting behind the home team.

“In the way we got ourselves into trouble in the last over, we probably should have lost. Such a win can bring the whole group together. It has been a hard eight or nine months and a result like this in the first game is great for our confidence.”

Maxwell said the way the game ended felt strange given that he and D’arcy Short had got the chase of 127 under control. “But on an extremely low wicket, one or two mishaps can change the game quickly.” How difficult batting was could be gauged by MS Dhoni getting only eight in the last over including a leg-bye and a wide, said Maxwell.

Even though Australia came here after the Big Bash League, Maxwell, who top-scored with 56 and added 84 with Short after Australia were 5/2, said he needed to be the opposite of how he would bat at home. “I realised I had to be a little lower especially after the Big Bash where you try and be taller and be still.”

Three fours by Maxwell off Yadav in the innings’ fourth over helped Australia start the chase, he said. They had targeted the leg-spinners (Yuzvendra Chahal and debutant Mayank Markande) because their top spin made the ball bounce and Yadav who hit the deck hard.

“(Jasprit) Bumrah and Krunal Pandya were the toughest guys to face on that wicket because they are capable of extracting a low sort of bounce and didn’t give you much width to work,” he said.

Not giving width was something Man-of-the-match Nathan Coulter-nile excelled at on Sunday. “He was brilliant. It was probably a wicket that suited him, it was keeping low and he was bowling straight, making it really hard to create angles,” said Maxwell.

As a bowling unit, Australia had decided to go straight, said Maxwell. “It was (then) about India trying to create the width. We saw Virat (Kohli) come down the wicket off (Adam) Zampa who we know is very accurate. We had to be patient with the ball and get India to try and take risks.”

KL Rahul’s dismissal summed that up, he said. “We didn’t let him get away and he then tried to go over mid-off that was inside the circle. We created that wicket.”

I did mention to Finch that if anyone can, it would (be) Cummins. For him to keep a cool head, hit a gap on the off-side, it was just good batting.

G MAXWELL, on P Cummins (in pic)