Pat’s Plan B: Bouncer barrage in Brisbane

Australian captain Pat Cummins has promised to inundate Indian batters with bouncers at ldquosome pointrdquo of the third Test starting here on Saturday after employing the strategy with telling effect in the second game in AdelaideThe Australian quicks particularly Cummins tormented the India batters with grunt balls in both the innings during the pink ball Test that Australia eventually won by 10 wickets to level the fivematch series 11Pat CumminsldquoYeah potentially It worked out in the Adelaide Test Itrsquos always in the back of your mind as a bit of a Plan Brdquo Cummins told the media in his prematch press meetldquoIf itrsquos something really uncomfortable yoursquore likely to take a look at it and come to a Plan A It worked in Adelaide so Irsquom sure wersquoll give it a shot at some point in the third Testrdquo he addedCummins was also chuffed with the way the Australian batters embraced the unique challenge of facing Jasprit Bumrah after succumbing to the talismanic Indian pacer in the first Test at Perth ldquoYeah thatrsquos right The professional players that we are obviously wersquoll be ready for it The guys always relish who they come up against whatever the conditions arerdquo he saidldquoLook going to India and seeing a spinning wicket for someone like Smithy Steve Smith he loves that challenge where it is really difficult to bat on Those conversations theyrsquore always up for it and exciting for the next roundrdquo he notedAce batter Smith is yet to fire in the series but Cummins was confident that the former skipper would return to his runmaking ways sooner than later ldquoHersquos looking fantastic in the nets Just looking really sharp looking like hersquos got plenty of time doing all the right things like he always doesldquoSo I am sure hersquoll get scores just around the corner Obviously a big leader around the group and hersquos been awesome So really hoping he gets a good resultrdquo he saidAlso ReadIndians must run hardHazlewood replaces Boland in Australia XIAustralian captain Pat Cummins on Friday announced that pacer Josh Hazlewood will replace Scott Boland in his playing XI for the third Test against India after having recovered from a side strainThe injury had forced Hazlewood to sit out of the pink ball Test in Adelaide last week Cummins exuded confidence that Hazlewood would pull through the match without any hiccups ldquoHe had a really good bowl yesterday he had another bowl in Adelaide a couple of days previously Him and the medical team are really confidentrdquo Cummins saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever