Better to stay a bit underdone than overdone: Aus captain Cummins

LONDON: Australia captain Pat Cummins does not mind staying a bit undercooked going into the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India rather than playing two months of T20 cricket and landing up jaded for a gruelling English summer.

When asked if the bulk of the Australia side (save Cameron Green, David Warner in the Indian Premier League and Marnus Labuschagne in English County cricket) would be a bit rusty with virtually no game time since the India series, Cummins begged to differ.

“Breaks are rare to come by,” said Cummins, who has 217 Test wickets from 49 matches. “I have always said, with six Test matches (including five in the Ashes), it is better to be slightly underdone than overdone. I am talking from a bower’s point of view. So, I want to be physically fresh.

“Back home, we did a lot of training. We have trained hard, rejuvenated and refreshed and are keen,” Cummins brushed aside talks of rustiness during ICC’s ‘Afternoon with Test Legends’ event.

Terming the Oval track as a good one with a lot of bounce, Cummins is confident that his team has enough bowlers to exploit the conditions.

“You need to know your moments to push for wickets. We need to get 20 wickets and there is no point trying everything in the first innings. We have plenty of bowlers to be used at different times,” Cummins said.

Australia has a dismal record of only two Test wins in the last 50 years at The Oval, and its overall win percentage at the South London ground is a mere 14 per cent.

“Our playing group has not played too many of those 50 Tests. We have played a few Ashes games, most of us. A few guys have scored runs and bowlers have had some pace and bounce. So, it should be good,” the skipper said.

Cummins felt that his team has turned the corner during this cycle of the WTC after missing the bus last time. “That (missing the final) has been the driving force behind the team and we deserve to play the final,” he said.

He said that among all teams if there was one side that gave it the maximum push, it was the India team, which has won back-to-back series Down Under.

“I think at home we have been pretty formidable and only (beaten) by Rohit [Sharma’s team (Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane’s team) in the last couple of tours... we have been troubled. Everyone is hitting their groove and some are at back end of [their] careers and at top of their games,” Cummins said.

Meanwhile, according to Ravi Shastri, Australia is the favourite on paper while India has the edge in terms of match fitness.