Australians will enjoy the friendly banter but the extra hours in the sun in the upcoming Test matches against India may make them fierier, says Australia pace bowler Pat Cummins who pointed out that they were competitive and not overly friendly against the Men in Blue during the recently concluded limited-overs series, which consisted of three ODIs and as many T20Is.
“I think it has been quite friendly in terms of banter, you see plenty of smiles. But there has been lots of quick bowling out there, lots of batters taking the game on. So I wouldn’t say the actual match play has been overly friendly, it has been really competitive and hard. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tests are all that and maybe us players baking in sun for a couple of more hours will maybe get us fierier. However, the way we play the game reflects who we are as people and for the most part, us Aussie team is pretty relaxed. We like a bit of laugh,” said Cummins while speaking to the reporters on Friday.
Australia will be featuring their entire pace battery this summer. It is a rarity but the bonding between them as well as the emergence of more fast bowlers is something that will hold the hosts in good stead against India, Cummins added.
While Australia has Mitchell Starc, Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and James Pattinson as their frontline pace bowlers, the emergence of Michael Neser, who impressed in the first warm-up, and Sean Abbott has added more firepower to the attack. Cameron Green also provides an option as the pace-bowling all-rounder.
“That is exciting. We (him, Starc, Pattinson, and Hazlewood) are really a tight bunch as well. And I’ll also add Michael Neser, who has been with us in the last few tours and Sean Abbot has come into the side as well. Yeah those particular guys, we are of similar age. We have had a kind of similar careers over the last 10 years… the last few tours we have spent together with great talking bowling on the field,” said Cummins.
“I love knowing when I finish my spell, I have got James Pattinson or Starc who are going to come in and go flat out. You have got Josh Hazlewood down at the other end. I guess just knowing there will be no let-up, is just a great set to be involved with. It’s super enjoyable and satisfying. If they take wickets that I don’t I am just happy for them. It is great at the moment,” he added.
The 27-year-old said Australian bowlers have not made any specific plans for Indian batsmen and added that they will tweak the usual plans as per the situation and batsmen.
“No, we haven’t done that (specific plans) this summer at all. As I said we will get together whether formally or informally at the top of our marks. As bowlers, we are normally talking about mainly what we are working on and what we think is going to work for us and then you try to tweak that to the particular batters you might face. But there has been nothing specific – where we have done homework over a certain player,” added Cummins ahead of the four-Test series that will be broadcast live only on Sony Ten 3 and Sony Six channels from December 17.
