On the slow-moving opening day of the third Test between the hosts Australia and the visitors India at Melbourne Cricket Ground (Melbourne), Australian cricketer Travis Head regrets missing their great opportunity to dismiss the in-form Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
At the very end moment of the day, when the Aussie pacer Mitchell Starc was firing with the second new ball of the day, Australian skipper and wicketkeeper Tim Paine dropped a low-diving opportunity that came after Kohli had an edge against Starc.
After the end of the day, Head told the reporters, “… the best over today was from Starc. Beating Kohli inside and outside, that new ball hopefully can come out and do that tomorrow again. It was disappointing to leave that chance, but it happens.”
This was the drop catch. What do you make of it? #AUSvINDpic.twitter.com/2VGFkgRoMN
— cricketnext (@cricketnext) December 26, 2018
Also watch: Mitchell Starc Stuns Himself And Virat Kohli
At the stumps on day one of the third Test of the series, India was batting on 215/2 while Cheteshwar Pujara (68*) and Virat Kohli (47*) are batting. However, Head hopes to make a comeback in the game on the second day morning session.
He said, “We would have liked to have 4-5 wickets tonight, but it is a massive morning and if we can still get them down two wickets in the morning, it will be good while the ball is still reasonably hard and a couple left-handers coming later on.
“Hopefully, as the game goes on we will get more spin, but we have been able to restrict a lot of runs today even though we didn’t get the wickets we would have liked. It makes for an exciting morning and momentum can change.”
Head admitted that the visiting side batted well but also added that they restricted them to score good runs on the opening day.
The Australian cricketer said, “Yeah it was a tough day. A grinding day of Test cricket and they batted well. We created pressure and we have seen for the whole series there hasn’t been high run rate for the day. Sometimes that’s Test cricket. It is not always going to be clear sailing and good wickets, and today was a case when we had to grind it out. It makes for another massive morning tomorrow to create pressure and make sure we bowl tomorrow the day we did today. I thought we restricted India in trying conditions.”
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Australian pacer Pat Cummins was the only bowler to pick up the wickets on the day. He finished the day with the bowling figure of 19-6-40-2.
Talking about his bowling performance, Head said, “Cummins led from the front and got two wickets for us. He bowled hard and aggressive, used his bouncer well, and extracted something from the wicket. And he put pressure on Indian batsmen all day.”
Also watch: Pat Cummins Almost Injured Hanuma Vihari With A Bouncer
Once again, the MCG pitch has produced the lack of opportunities for the bowlers. However, Head calls for the wait and watch for the next four days of the match.
He added, “I thought it would offer a little bit more than it did in the first couple hours. We thought it would offer more life leading into it. If you hit the wicket the pacers were able to get some pace off it but in other parts they weren’t able to.”
