Cummins: Bowlers' confidence intact despite Australia's Rawalpindi struggle

Pacers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood went without wickets, while Cummins employed as many as nine bowlers in Pakistan's second innings to shield his fast bowlers.

Published : Mar 08, 2022 19:39 IST

Australia captain Pat Cummins denied the confidence of his bowling attack was hit after the side managed to pick only four wickets in the first Test.
Australia captain Pat Cummins denied the confidence of his bowling attack was hit after the side managed to pick only four wickets in the first Test.
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Australia captain Pat Cummins denied the confidence of his bowling attack was hit after the side managed to pick only four wickets in the first Test.

Australia captain Pat Cummins denied the confidence of his bowling attack had taken a hit after its struggle in the drawn opening Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.

A dominant Pakistan followed its first innings total of 476-4 declared with 252 for no loss in the second even as the run-feast ended in a draw at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Its opener Imam-ul-Haq went into the match without a Test century in his previous 11 matches and ended up smashing two of them to walk away with the man-of-the-match award.

Opening partner Abdullah Shafique also registered his maiden Test century, while senior teammate Azhar Ali's 185 in the first innings was the top score in the bat-dominated contest.

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"It's not a hit at all," Cummins told reporters when asked is his bowlers felt deflated after toiling for little success.

"Our three quick bowlers and (spinner) Nathan (Lyon) are all quite experienced. They've played a lot of cricket on really good wickets, flat wickets, bouncing wickets, spinning wickets.

"When we came over here, we knew we're going to experience foreign conditions.

"Whoever's called on for the next test will be ready to go."

Frontline quicks Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood went without wickets, while Cummins employed as many as nine bowlers in Pakistan's second innings to shield his fast bowlers.

Uncapped leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson is expected to join Lyon in Australia's two-man spin attack in the second Test in Karachi from Saturday.

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"We'll spend the next couple of days reviewing it, having a look at different plans ahead of Karachi," Cummins said ruling out his main bowlers were a tired lot.

"We all bowled around about 25 or 30 overs each, which in comparison to a lot of Australian test matches is actually a pretty light workload.

"We did not get a huge amount of reverse swing in this test but that might come into later on.

"I was really happy with how everyone went and everyone's come through unscathed."

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