Kohli was the difference: Cummins

By Paritosh Pramanik
NAGPUR, Mar 6

AUSTRALIAN pace spearhead Pat Cummins might have taken four wickets for his side including that of Virat Kohli but the seamer felt that the innings of Indian captain made the difference in the second One-Day International on Tuesday night.
India posted 250, thanks to Virat Kohli’s responsible 116 and then the bowlers bowled out Australians in last over to win the match by eight runs at VCA Stadium in Jamtha on Tuesday night.
“I think he (Kohli) was the difference, for sure. We had a couple of really good partnerships, Marcus got 50-odd, couple of guys got really good starts but we didn’t have that one guy who got on with it. We knew the longer the game went on, the harder it was going to be to score. So for them to have someone like Virat in at he end, facing lots of balls, he was probably the difference between them getting low-200 or 250.”
“He batted beautifully and he didn’t give any chances. If someone bowls well he’s happy to wait on them and cash in later. But Kohli doesn’t miss out on too many bad balls. It was really good innings. That was the difference today.”
The seamer also praised Kohli’s chanceless innings.
“Really good innings, chanceless. He just played really good shots. I think for the most part we bowled quite well to him but especially the way he played some of the spin, which looked quite tough to play on that wicket, was certainly the difference,” admitted Cummins during a press conference.
Cummins took positives from the lost battle and said that would help them in future.
“It was another close one. Just like the first game. We just couldn’t close out. I thought there were lots of good things we did. To bowl them out obviously is a good thing to get 250 from the position they were win was a pretty good result for us. Then a couple of partnerships were really good. But just — it’s happened a couple of times, we’re just off the mark a little bit,” felt Cummins.
Marcus Stoinis batted well for his 52 runs and the Australians had a chance until he was there in the middle. Cummins praised his innings.
“Yeah when Marcus is there, you always feel like you are in for a chance. He’s been the closer for us the last couple of years, played some unbelievable knocks and assesses the game really well.  So with him out there I thought we were a massive chance. He played it beautifully, the way he just counted down the balls, chose the bowlers. To have 11 off the last over against probably their fifth bowler is a pretty good position from where we were. He set it up beautifully (but) just wasn’t his day that last over,” Cummins explained.
Cummins said he loves bowling with the new ball.
“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 try to swing it around, get a bit of pace and bounce out of the wicket before it tends to go soft. I enjoyed that and am really happy with how I landed pretty much my whole 9 overs.”
Despite two losses Cummins believed that they had some excellent match winners in the side and others are learning how to cope in close games.
“I think we’ve got match-winners in the side. It’s maybe yeah — games like today, we are trying to learn off those guys who won it for the opposition and try to do it. It’s one of those things. When you’re one of the best sides in the world, you do finish those close ones.”
Cummins lauded the innings of their out of form captain Aaron Finch.
“He (Finch) batted really well with Usman at the start there. I think he has played a beautiful innings today. You see how effective he is – one he gets going, the field goes back. He’s one of those batsmen, I know bowling in domestic cricket against him, you do feel under pressure if he’s firing. It’s good to see him (back among runs). He’s such a class player. His record is great in ODI cricket so runs were always going to come around the corner. It was a good innings from him today, I’m sure he’ll keep cashing in,” said Cummins.