Boxing Day Test: Aaron Finch hopeful of rewards for super Pat Cummins

Pat Cummins

The temperature soared past the 35-degree Centigrade mark here yesterday, but that didn't prevent Pat Cummins from giving his all on the second day of the third Test against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The strapping Australian seamer, Tim Paine's battering ram, sent down 34 exceptionally hostile overs in India's first-innings 443 for seven declared, troubling every batsman by getting the ball to climb sharply even on a slow surface. He was rewarded with the sticks on Wednesday of G Hanuma Vihari and debutant Mayank Agarwal, and rounded off a personally rewarding outing by getting centurion Cheteshwar Pujara with a ball that stayed down on Day Two.

India's declaration late in the evening left Australia with seven tricky overs to negotiate. Remarkably, Cummins had been penciled in as nightwatchman, though openers Marcus Harris and Aaron Finch ensured that their tireless colleague didn't have to come out to bat yet. "Patty Cummins bowled 34 overs for the innings and then to strap the pads on to be nightwatchman is a pretty brave effort," an admiring Finch agreed. "The way Patty keeps fronting up and coming back is a real testament to his fitness, the amount of work he's done off the field to get himself into the condition he is to back up Test after Test.

He probably didn't get the rewards he deserved in the first two Tests, but you've heard every coach say it, you can bowl a lot worse and get a lot more wickets." Despite bowling beautifully and putting Virat Kohli through the kind of examination few bowlers worldwide have managed over the past couple of years, Cummins only picked up two wickets apiece in both Adelaide and Perth. Finch, however, had no doubt that greater success wasn't far away.

"I'm sure his rewards will come, the way he's bowling is outstanding. When there's not a lot happening, he seems to be the guy who can make something out of nothing. He's a super player, a talent with the bat, with the ball, in the field. He's just a super package as a cricketer and an even better bloke as well. To knock Pujara over after hitting him on the gloves as well is really quality bowling."

Catch up on all the latest T20 news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates