After Australia took a 2-1 lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, skipper Pat Cummins reckons the 184-run win over India in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground is one of the best games he's played in.
For the incredible all-round performances in that match, Cummins was rewarded as the Player of the Match and named the winner of the Johnny Mullagh medal, which is awarded in the name of the star player from the 1868 Aboriginal tour of England. Cummins hit crucial knocks of 49 and 41 with the bat, while picking figures of 3-89 and 3-28 with the ball to give Australia a memorable win.
"What an amazing Test match, I reckon one of the best I have been part of. All week the crowd has been ridiculous and it has been amazing to be part of. Marnus helped me out in that second innings big time, happy to contribute," he said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
He also spoke about the big first innings and contributions at the lower end that saw Australia win crucial moments of the match. "Amazing innings from Steve, winning the toss, it wasn't easy on the first day, to get up to high 400s was terrific". We were in a lot of work on our lower-order batting, working a lot on how best we bowl to the opposition batters first of all, but also how we can contribute with the bat.
Cummins also explained that they did not declare overnight as they did not want to give India any chance of winning the match. "We wanted to take an India victory out of the equation (by not declaring). We had plenty of runs to play with, and as many helmets around the bat as we could."
We were a bit behind on the over rate, so we thought, get Trav in there, it may help us out with that. Him bowling to Pant was an idea by the coaching staff. Very happy change room, we'll savour this for a little bit before we get to Sydney".
Head, who took the key wicket of Pant, said he was happy to contribute with the ball after a rare quiet Test with the bat. "I've had four and a half days, didn't do much with the bat, happy to contribute. (The plan to Pant) Have everyone on the fence and bowl a rank one. Two teams went at it pretty hard, and there were moments where both teams stepped up."
Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc said the belief in the Australian camp to win at Melbourne was ever-present. "There's always belief in this group, it's been a feature of this group over the years. Calmness and ability to adapt to situations."
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