India v Australia cricket: Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon under threat in second Test selection squeeze
Every Australian player — including captain Pat Cummins — is set to feel the selection heat as the Aussies weigh up how to square their Indian Test series in Delhi.
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Pat Cummins has been a revelation as Australian captain, but his permanent residence in the bowling attack threatens to create an unprecedented selection squeeze for the second Test.
Australia is desperate to rush back all-rounder Cameron Green and left-arm quick Mitchell Starc, and has also declared left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann a “live chance” to play the do-or-die Test in Delhi starting on Friday should conditions warrant playing three spinners.
But not all of those wishes can come true unless the unthinkable happens and Cummins options out of the attack.
Cummins is, quite rightly, all but certain to play as a proven leader and one of the most inspirational bowlers in the world who is capable of producing the key wicket at just the key moment.
However, Australia’s selection conundrum for this Test does highlight the very occasional snags caused by having a fast bowling captain.
The only way to play three spinners, if conditions demand, is for Green to become the second seamer in a two-pronged pace attack.
Under that scenario, which still requires Green to pass a fitness test, it would leave Cummins and Starc to battle it out as the sole specialist quick.
And how do you drop Test cricket’s No.1 bowler and the man who has led Australia with such distinction since taking over from Tim Paine as captain?
But to not play Starc would be a questionable move in itself given his track record suggests he is Australia’s best sub-continental quick, and the footmarks he creates as a left-armer is crucial to unlocking the full potential of off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
(Although, the footmarks would help Ravi Ashwin as well.)
The most likely option perhaps is for Australia to go in with Cummins, Starc and Green and only two spinners … but that brings its own set of problems.
There is a strong argument to suggest playing a left-armer in Kuhnemann or Agar instead of two off-spinners could be the best way to take 20 Indian wickets.
But that would mean dropping The GOAT Lyon or seven-wicket hero Murphy.
For that reason, former Test captain Michael Clarke believes selectors have painted themselves into a corner for the second Test.
“Our spinners did a good job but I don’t know if two offies is the right balance for us as well,” Clarke said on the Big Sports Breakfast.
“But … how do you drop (Lyon or Murphy)? You can’t.”
Former Test quick Stuart Clark says in one way or another, Australia is going to have to make compromises with the final make-up of its attack.
“I’ve watched a little bit of (Kuhnemann) bowl in domestic cricket. He’s a pretty good bowler, and he would be hard work and he offers a bit of variety,” Clark said.
“But that means you’ve got either play three spinners – I’m not sure they’re going to do that – or you’ve got to leave out Nathan Lyon. I’m pretty sure they’re not going to do that.
“Todd Murphy obviously did really well, so you can’t leave him out.”
Outside of bringing back Starc and Green from injury, Clark believes selectors will be reluctant to make further changes out of fear it would be a sign of panic.
“It’s such a corner that they’re almost stuck and unless they get some injury relief – ie. Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green come back – I don’t see how they can make any changes without looking like, A; there’s a massive over-reaction to what happened in the first game, or two; accepting they got it wrong, and I don’t think they want to do either of those.”
Australia travelled to Delhi on Tuesday and will have a couple of days to assess conditions before settling on an XI they hope can resuscitate them in the series after the first-up disaster in Nagpur.
BOLAND RESIGNED TO BEING DROPPED FOR STARC
Peter Lalor
Scott Boland is resigned to losing his place to Mitchell Starc for the second Test, but comforts himself with the thought that he at least made the decision difficult for the selectors.
The Victorian cult hero played the first Test - his first overseas - and was impressive, bowling 17 overs and conceding just 34 runs, but did not take a wicket.
Starc will be favoured because of his experience and the rough he creates for the off spinners, but at the same time he will further assist India’s frighteningly effective slow bowlers.
Boland is not confident of playing in the Delhi Test.
“I felt like I bowled well, but when you are bringing in someone like Mitchell Starc who is a gun in these conditions and has bowled really well in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, hopefully I made the selectors job a little bit tougher than what it originally was,” he said.
“In places like here it is tough to judge on (how you went) as a fast bowler but I think I contributed to our game plan and I played my role pretty well.
“I think I had a pretty good spell in conjunction with Toddy (Todd Murphy) a couple of times so I was happy with how the ball came out.”
Starc’s ability to generate reverse swing and blast out tails makes him even more valuable to the side.
The left armer injured a finger in the MCG Test and has recovered at home. He flew to Delhi over the weekend and is preparing alone while waiting for the team to arrive on Tuesday.
It was Boland’s first taste of Indian conditions. In Nagpur the BCCI’s curators rolled the centre of the wicket flat to negate the seam bowlers and watered the areas on a length to assist spin which is their strength.
“Playing the G (MCG) for 10 years and now at the junction we quite often get wickets that are pretty flat and don’t offer much speed or swing or anything like that, that’s where I learned my skills, just try and hold a length all the time and go for one or two an over, that’s probably my role in the team at the moment,” he said.
Boland said it is hard work for the seamers in India.
“I felt like we had a little bit of reverse swing but the ball was so soft and the wicket was so slow through the middle,” he said. “It was hard to beat the inside edge with the bat, maybe if we can get reverse swing a little bit earlier we might be able to beat the inside edge, but with the wicket being so slow it was hard work.
“All the wickets are going to be pretty similar. I’m not sure they’re gonna give us any pace through the middle of the wicket. The same in Sri Lanka last year, feel like they rolled the middle of the wicket so flat, there’s no pace in it for our quick bowlers. So I assume it’s gonna be pretty similar. From their point of view their spin dominated. They played our spinners pretty well, so I reckon they’re going to be looking for the same kind of wicket.”
Boland suffered the acute embarrassment of dropping a skied ball from Mohammed Shami on the ropes on the third day off the bowling of Nathan Lyon. The error allowed the Indians to put on another 60 runs - not that it made a lot of difference to the Australians who lost by an innings and 132 runs.
“No one likes dropping catches it’s a shocking feeling. I felt pretty bad straightaway. you just try to get on with the game, if you get another chance you take it. It’s a shocking feeling.”
AUSSIE’S TEXT MSG REVEALS HIDDEN SECRETS OF INDIAN ‘ROCK STAR’
Robert Craddock
Australian spin recruit Matt Kuhnemann will FaceTime former Test tweaker Steve O’Keefe after landing in India as they attempt to unlock the secrets of Indian master Ravi Jadeja.
Kuhnemann flew out of Australia on Monday morning and will have just three days to prepare for Friday’s second Test in Delhi, where, according to coach Andrew McDonald, he is a “live’’ chance of making his Test debut.
The prospect of playing after such a quick turnaround exhilarates rather than intimidates the 26-year-old, a former Australian under-19 teammate of Matt Renshaw.
“I am so pumped just to be a part of things,’’ Kuhnemann told News Corp as he prepared to board a plane to India.
“Just to be there with the Aussies and rub shoulders with the Indian team who have a few legends as well. I’m pumped and if an opportunity came it would be really exciting.’’
With Ashton Agar out of form in the nets Kuhnemann could be pitched into the Test team where he would square off against India’s two high-class left arm spinners, Axar Patel and the brilliant Jadeja who took 7-81 in the first Test in Nagpur.
Jadeja, nicknamed the Rock Star by Shane Warne, was the focus of a message sent to Kuhnemann from O’Keefe, who famously took 12-70 to win Australia a Test in Pune in 2017 with the best ever figures by an overseas spinner in India.
“SOK (Steve O’Keefe) was one of the first guys to message me and he sent me a big paragraph and a couple of videos into things he thinks work. I am going to FaceTime him when I get to India and we will run through a couple of things. He has been awesome to me when we chatted in Sri Lanka and after the Big Bash final.
“The videos he sent me were of Jadeja and how he bowled two balls with the one action and one spun and the other didn’t. How he was patient and let the pitch do the work.
“Since coming back from Sri Lanka (where he made his 50 over Australian debut last year) I have been fascinated by that and have worked on it and put it in my game over the past year or so.
“For me its about bowling a bit more with a square seam and I have been bowling that a bit more in the Big Bash anyway and some of the wickets which have been a bit tired.
“I have been bowling it for years to Marnus in the nets.’’
Kuhnemann was putting on his spikes before day three of the Sheffield match between Queensland and Victoria when he saw the name of chief selector George Bailey flash up on his phone.
“We are not supposed to have our phones in the dressing room so I was just about to put mine down and I saw George’s name come up and thought I had better take the call. He told me quickly. I was shocked and really excited. It was hard to keep my mind on the Shield game.’’
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