"Forgot About Bowling Himself": Australia Great Pin Points Pat Cummins' Mistakes In Delhi Test

The legendary Allan Border feels Pat Cummins had a lot to worry about as the series against India was his "first real test as captain" and in the process under-bowled himself in the second Test in Delhi. Australia conceded the four-match series for the Border Gavaskar Trophy after losing the opening two Tests in Nagpur and Delhi. Cummins, who had faced just one defeat as captain before coming to India, was the sole quick in the Australian playing XI in the six-wicket loss in Delhi.  He bowled just 13 overs in the first innings and didn't bowl at all in India's second essay.

"To me, the fast bowler, it's always fraught with danger," Border told SEN Radio.

"I thought Pat grossly under-bowled himself in that Test match.

"There were opportunities when things were starting to go stray, particularly in the Indian first innings when we had them on the ropes and they formed a good partnership, a couple of blasts from him running in and bowling some short stuff for two or three overs...." Australia had reduced India to 139 for 7 before Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin shared a 114-run stand to take India to just one run short of the visiting team's first innings total.

"There are other guys out on the field I suppose who could go to the captain and say, 'mate, why don't you have a bowl'?" Border said.

"But I just thought this is Pat's first real test as a captain, the rest has been plain sailing, you go to the sub-continent and all of a sudden you get tested out in all sorts of areas.

"He's worried about lots of different things, he forgot about himself bowling I think. That's what can happen in those situations when your premier fast bowler is your captain." However, Border was also sympathetic towards Cummins.

"There is a lot