Australia seamer Pat Cummins credited Virat Kohli’s innings as the difference maker in the 2nd ODI against ODI at VCA Stadium in Nagpur on Tuesday. The 30-year-old slammed his 40th ODI ton in the match, becoming the only player after Sachin Tendulkar to reach the milestone. He scored 116 runs in 120 balls before he was dismissed by Cummins, helping his side to set a target of 251 for the visitors to chase. Australia were bowled out for 242, with Vijay Shankar taking two wickets in the final over.
Australia seamer Pat Cummins credited Virat Kohli’s innings as the difference maker in the 2nd ODI against ODI at VCA Stadium in Nagpur on Tuesday. The 30-year-old slammed his 40th ODI ton in the match, becoming the only player after Sachin Tendulkar to reach the milestone. He scored 116 runs in 120 balls before he was dismissed by Cummins, helping his side to set a target of 251 for the visitors to chase. Australia were bowled out for 242, with Vijay Shankar taking two wickets in the final over.
Speaking to the reporters after the match at the press conference, Cummins praised Kohli for his batting. “I think he (Kohli) was the difference, for sure. We had a couple of really good partnerships, Marcus (Stonis) got 50-odd, a couple of guys got really good starts but we didn’t have that one guy (player) who got on with it,” he said.
He added: “So for them to have someone like Virat in at the end, facing lots of balls, he was probably the difference between them getting low-200 or 250. (It was a) really good innings – chanceless.”
Cummins added that Kohli in full command of his game at the moment. “Kohli is someone who just looks in complete command of his game at the moment… he (Kohli) batted beautifully, he didn’t give any chances, he looks like he got so much time. If someone bowls well he’s happy to wait on them and cash in later, he doesn’t miss out on too many bad balls,” he said.
The right-armer added that despite the loss, his side can take out a few positives from the match. “Bowling a team out is good. The way (Adam) Zampa came back, got two big wickets that was a great sign. Nathan Lyon hadn’t played a lot of one-day cricket lately, to come straight back in it’s quite different from Test cricket, he seemed to be firing them in there and kept the scoreboard quite tight, so another great positive,” he said.
The 25-year-old finished with figures of 4/29 in the match. The bowler added that he was happy with his performance. “I love bowling with the new ball, especially in one-day cricket on these sort of wickets, the ball deteriorates quite quickly. So I love getting the brand new ball and trying to swing it around, get a bit of pace and bounce out of the wicket before it tends to go soft,” he said.
The two teams will meet again for the 3rd ODI on Friday.
Speaking to the reporters after the match at the press conference, Cummins praised Kohli for his batting. “I think he (Kohli) was the difference, for sure. We had a couple of really good partnerships, Marcus (Stonis) got 50-odd, a couple of guys got really good starts but we didn’t have that one guy (player) who got on with it,” he said.
He added: “So for them to have someone like Virat in at the end, facing lots of balls, he was probably the difference between them getting low-200 or 250. (It was a) really good innings – chanceless.”
Cummins added that Kohli in full command of his game at the moment. “Kohli is someone who just looks in complete command of his game at the moment… he (Kohli) batted beautifully, he didn’t give any chances, he looks like he got so much time. If someone bowls well he’s happy to wait on them and cash in later, he doesn’t miss out on too many bad balls,” he said.
The right-armer added that despite the loss, his side can take out a few positives from the match. “Bowling a team out is good. The way (Adam) Zampa came back, got two big wickets that was a great sign. Nathan Lyon hadn’t played a lot of one-day cricket lately, to come straight back in it’s quite different from Test cricket, he seemed to be firing them in there and kept the scoreboard quite tight, so another great positive,” he said.
The 25-year-old finished with figures of 4/29 in the match. The bowler added that he was happy with his performance. “I love bowling with the new ball, especially in one-day cricket on these sort of wickets, the ball deteriorates quite quickly. So I love getting the brand new ball and trying to swing it around, get a bit of pace and bounce out of the wicket before it tends to go soft,” he said.
The two teams will meet again for the 3rd ODI on Friday.