Australian skipper Pat Cummins gave credit to his bowlers after their maiden win of the ongoing World Cup 2023 against Sri Lanka at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Monday. Sri Lankan skipper Kusal Mendis won the toss and decided to bat first but they could only manage a below-par score of 209 runs on the board.
In fact, the Lankans were given a perfect start by their openers – Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera. The duo added 125 runs for the opening alliance with both of them scoring fine half-centuries. However, Pathum Nissanka was dismissed on a short ball by Pat Cummins and it triggered a collapse.
In fact, Sri Lanka was looking good to get a par score of 300 runs but ended up losing nine wickets for 52 runs to lose track in their batting innings. Adam Zampa, who could not get the job done in the first two matches, was at his absolute best, returning with 4-47 in the eight overs he bowled. The leggie accounted for Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne and Maheesh Theekshana.
“Yeah, happy today. Ahh… Probably nothing was said. It was on the back of two losses. The group has got high standards. Everyone was up for it, and they did well on the field. Not really. We didn’t start well. But we bowled well. At 130 off for 1, Sri Lanka was going well. But we stayed in it and scratched our way back into the game,” Cummins said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Cummins reckons 300 would have been a par score and showered praise on his bowlers for keeping Sri Lanka in check.
“I am not the right bloke to ask for that (chuckles on asking for the par score on this pitch). The bowlers did well and hit the deck hard. Maybe 300 would have been a par total. There are a lot of people watching it. They speak, and the outside noise is not a matter of concern for us. Most of the parts of the game came together for us. We will try to keep it up and continue,” Cummins added.
Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis scored fine fifties for Australia to help them get close to the target whereas Glenn Maxwell added the finishing touches.
The Men in Yellow will next take on Pakistan at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Friday.
