The assistant coach sung praises of the Australian bowlers, particularly of Pat Cummins, as the Australian's pressurised Kohli's men
Australia’s assistant coach David Saker said that “an exciting Test match” is on with his team ahead of India by 91 runs and still needing four first innings wickets to take. He was pleased to see the back of Virat Kohli early for the fifth successive time this series. Kohli has been dismissed by five different bowlers so far – Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Steve O’Keefe, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins – for an aggregate of 46 and an average of 9.20 this series. Saker said it was “very satisfying getting Virat Kohli out cheaply, that’s for sure”.
Asked how his bowlers went about targeting Kohli, Saker said: “There’s no set plan as to how we’re going to get him out, we just try to put as much pressure on certain batters when they come in. We’ve had some good success against him in this series, without a doubt.
“I think Glenn Maxwell’s chase to keep Kohli on strike was superb, and they’re the sort of little things that we talk a lot about in the dressing room. If we do the little things really well, then the big things look after themselves. That chase kept Virat Kohli on strike, we got the wicket very next ball, so little things like that are really important for us. We’ll keep concentrating on things like that.”
He complimented his bowlers’ efforts in putting pressure on the Indians in the first and third sessions in which India scored 73 and 57 runs, respectively. The Indians pulled back the middle session in their favour, scoring 110 runs and losing only two wickets.
Saker said: “In the middle session, our fast bowlers attacked bowling too full. You had to bowl back of length and it becomes harder to score. There was not much in it for spin as the only real rough spot on the pitch was outside the right-handers’ leg-stump. The second session got away from us but we have a good last session. It was not easy getting wickets on pitches like that. We have an exciting Test match.”
The 50-year-old from Melbourne said that Pat Cummins, playing in only his second Test and first since November 2011, bowled “superb”.
“I thought last night (Friday) he bowled particularly well but today (Saturday), he backed that up to produce some of the balls he produced to get wickets is pretty exciting. Hats off to the selectors to go with him. Ball speed in India is a big thing because the wickets don’t generate any pace. But he was way higher than the expectations we had. We know what talent he is but it’s so pleasing to see him go so well.”
With Cummins hit with injuries frequently in his career, Saker said on managing the workloads: “We didn’t have any restrictions on him throughout this Test. It’s a really important Test match for us. If he ends up bowling more overs than expected, then so be it. It’s tough cricket over here and because he’s bowling so well, the captain will want to keep going to him. I can’t see him bowling too many overs tomorrow (Sunday) and maybe if we do have a bowl on the final day, I think it will be more a spinning wicket. He’s done a great job so far.”
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 "Assistant Australia coach David Saker praises bowler's efforts, saying match is still 'exciting'")
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