The historic first Test between Pakistan and Australia at the Pindi Cricket Stadium ended in a draw where bowlers only managed to take 14 wickets across five days.
Australia’s captain Pat Cummins opined that the track was specially designed to nullify the visitors’ pace attack.
Aussies fielded four-pace bowling options, skipper Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, all-rounder Cameron Green while Nathan Lyon was the lone spinner and Travis Head, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne provided overs with their part-time spin.
“Turning up to a pitch that’s probably not a traditional pitch you would get here in Rawalpindi, and it’s probably clear they’ve made an effort to try and nullify the pace bowling,” Cummins said post-match.
“I think that’s a positive. And, sub-continent conditions, coming away with a draw it’s not a bad result,” he added.
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Cummins is happy with the efforts of his bowlers across the Test match and revealed why his main bowlers didn’t bowl much on Day Five.
“I think we all tried different things. All the quick bowlers, although we’ve spent the best part of three days out in the field, I think we’ve all bowled around about 25, maximum 30 overs each, which in comparison to a lot of Australian Test matches is actually a pretty light workload.
“Didn’t get a huge look at reverse swing this Test, but that might come into it later on. But I was really happy with how everyone went and everyone’s come through unscathed.”
Meanwhile, Cummins emphasized the need of reviewing their plans for them ahead of Karachi despite the batting-friendly conditions in Rawalpindi.
“I thought the Pakistani batters batted really well the whole game. Got themselves in and then once they got themselves in they were able to just tick over the score.
“We’ll spend the next couple days reviewing it having a look at maybe different plans ahead of Karachi, expecting probably different conditions as well,” he added.
On the other hand, Cummins hailed the Rawalpindi crowd for making this dead Test enjoyable.
“They were fantastic the crowd, really passionate crowd for obviously Pakistan but really respectful and great for our players as well. I loved that. Every time we walked onto the field they’re chanting and trying to get waves from our players, which is awesome.”
It must be noted that the second Test of the three-match series will start from March 12 in Karachi.
