Pat Cummins has all but guaranteed the spot of under-fire Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne for the second Test against India.
The once-dominant No.3 is in the worst form slump of his decorated career, with his lean patch stretching out across around two years now.
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Labuschagne again looked a shadow of his former self during Australia’s shambolic first Test defeat in Perth, with unconvincing scores of two and three across the two meek innings.
It’s prompted deafening calls for his displacement from the team, at least for the time being, while he searches for the form that made him the world’s No.1 Test batter in 2022 and early 2023.
But Cummins has poured cold water over the suggestion he could be dropped ahead of Adelaide.
“After every Test you always look at what you think your best matchup is,” he said after Australia’s 295-run thumping at the hands of India.
“This is a sample size of one (Test); four, five days ago we thought this was our best XI, so I dare say nothing… there won’t be many changes going into Adelaide. But I’m not a selector — I’m sure they’ll get together after the game.”
The former No.1-ranked Test batter is averaging just 24 this year and his last century came in July 2023.
Cummins admitted that Labuschagne has a lot to work on.
“Marn, along with quite a few guys in the team, didn’t have the week that we would have wanted,” Cummins said.
“It’s no secret how hard the batters, particularly Marn, work in the nets; he’s always trying to find those small, marginal gains.
“This week there will be a lot of conversation with the coaches around his approach and what he could be doing differently. We know he’s a class player — him at his best is one of the scariest propositions for opposition bowlers to bowl at.
“This week will be about those conversations, we’ll get to Adelaide a little bit earlier, maybe do an extra day or two prep leading into that second Test.
“He’s done it before over here, he’s got a very good pink-ball record.”
Speaking in two separate radio interviews after the press conference, Cummins was even more definitive that Labuschagne, along with Steve Smith — who also appears a shell of his former self — and the rest of the batters are in no danger of being axed.
“There’s a lot of experience there, this summer it’s a sample size of one, I think they’re going about their work really well,” Cummins said of his top order on Fox Cricket.
“I’d be very surprised if we changed anything”, he told ABC.
He then told SEN: “I’m not a selector but I dare say there won’t be any changes.”
Speaking more broadly about the team in the presser, Cummins described the “hurt” of Australia crashing to their heaviest home Test defeat by runs against India, marking a disastrous start to their bid to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
After bowling India out for 150 on Day 1, Australia were annihilated for the rest of the match.
Following up a dismal 104 — their lowest Test total against India at home for 44 years — Australia showed at least some fight in their second innings on Monday, before being dismissed for 238 soon after tea on Day 4.
Australia’s previous largest home Test loss against India by runs was 222 at the MCG in 1977, when their side was heavily impacted by World Series Cricket.
“You sit in the change room after a loss like that, and it hurts,” Cummins said.
“When a team declares on you, it’s never an amazing feeling.
“We’ve all been in these situations before.
“It’s the nature of professional sport, you’re going to lose some games.
“The biggest challenge and the most important thing is how do you bounce back? What’s your next move?”
Jasprit Bumrah excelled as India’s stand-in captain in the absence of Rohit Sharma, certifying his claim to be one of the finest bowlers to have toured Australia.
The pace machine finished with match figures of 8-92, following a five-wicket haul in the first-innings with another three scalps on Monday.
Bumrah, whose career average sits at 20.06, has 40 wickets at 18.86 from eight Tests in Australia at the start of his third tour here.
The 30-year-old set the tone for India’s stunning triumph with his fearsome bowling and bold captaincy.
With India having already batted for a day and a half, making Australia swelter in the Perth heat, Bumrah decided to declare on 6-487 late on Sunday to have a crack at the hosts’ brittle top order.
The move was immediately rewarded as Bumrah struck twice in the 30 minutes before stumps and Australia collapsed to 3-12 chasing a record target of 534.
“Almost as good as you would want,” Bumrah said.
“(Sunday) was perfect.
“We wanted to bowl in the evening. We wanted two wickets, but we got more than that. We couldn’t ask for anything more.”
But Bumrah’s declaration only came after batting icon Virat Kohli (100 not out) awoke from his slumber to post his seventh Test century in Australia.
Coming to the crease with India cruising at 2-275, Kohli was able to play with freedom and return to the Test form that had deserted him for most of the past five years.
But it wasn’t just the King Kohli show in Perth, with whiz kid opener Yashasvi Jaiswal announcing himself as one of world cricket’s brightest stars with a brilliant 161 in his first Test on Australian soil.
After a first-innings duck, the 22-year-old toyed with Australia’s star-studded bowling attack, even sledging Mitchell Starc about his pace, to hammer home India’s advantage.
While India’s batters fired, responding after a recent historic 3-0 home whitewash against New Zealand, Australia will be left scrambling for answers ahead of the second Test in Adelaide.
Only new fathers Travis Head (89) and Mitch Marsh (47) showed any significant fight, sparing Australia from greater embarrassment.
It is only India’s second Test win in Perth — and the first since their triumph at the WACA Ground in 2008.
Australia last won a Border-Gavaskar series in 2014-15, with India holding the trophy since 2017, which has included winning on their past two tours to this country.
The last time Australia recovered from a 1-0 deficit and came back to win a Test series was in the 1997 Ashes in England.
– With AAP