Australia not only had to deal with the high-flying Indian team at the Eden Gardens but also with the sweltering heat of West Bengal. Steven Smith & Co. had battled against the severe heat in Bangladesh but were seen struggling in Kolkata.
Fast-bowlers Nathan Coulter-Nile and Pat Cummins had to leave the field to take a much-needed rest after bowling only four overs each while Kane Richardson also moved out with his head bowed and hands rested on the knees.
Kane Richardson (Credits: Fox Sports)
In fact, the struggle in the heat also led to a heated moment when India skipper Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav stole a single after a tired Matthew Wade took his eyes off the ball. The incident had miffed Wade who did not refrain from starting a war of words with Kohli.
Cummins has now opened up on how he and his teammates felt at the Eden Gardens. The pacer, who took an impressive one for 34 off his ten overs, said the game was ‘the hottest one-day game’ his teammates have played.
“It felt similar to Dhaka, I reckon, just below Chittagong,” Cummins said when asked to compare the conditions in West Bengal to those in Bangladesh.
“But that’s the hottest one-day game anyone said they’ve played. I think the 50 overs felt like it was about 200 overs out there. You only had to look at ‘Wadey’ (wicketkeeper Matthew Wade), it was 15 overs in, and he was on all fours. So it’s not great conditions,” he added.
When asked about the reason behind the Aussie pacers decision to leave the field after bowling four overs each, he said:
Kane Richardson trying to save himself from intense heat during Eden ODI against India. Image Courtesy: AP
“You pretty much try and change all your clothes because they’re just sodden through with sweat. If you’ve got strapping, you try and get that re-strapped. You just try and get one or two overs just to cool down and have some ice blocks, change all your gear and try and freshen up.”
Cummins also rued the fact that the world champions have lost both the games despite being in promising positions on both the occasions. Chasing 253 in the second ODI, Australia were well into the match after being 148 for five. However, a hat-trick from Kuldeep Yadav derailed their chase, as the visitors were eventually all out for 202.
“We got in a position in both games where we could’ve taken the game away from India. It was unfortunate that there was a couple of wickets, but we’ve just got to try and find a way to fix that up. There’s still three games left so we can still win the series,” he said.
Cummins also praised his fellow bowlers for restricting India to a modest total.
“I thought it was a great effort from the five or six bowlers. There were no big overs so I think to keep them to 250 on a really good batting wicket and batting conditions in the afternoon, I thought it was a great job,” he said.
