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| Steve Waugh |
Melbourne: Former Australia captain Steve Waugh feels that teen pace sensation Pat Cummins, who is likely to miss the home Test series against India due to a heel injury, would have tested the likes of veterans Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
“He (Cummins) would have unsettled those guys and with he and (James) Pattinson together that would have been a real test for the 35-pluses in the Indian side, who have been playing in pretty flat decks and against not really quick attacks,” Waugh said.
Waugh, however, was critical of the way the rookie pacers were handled by Cricket Australia (CA), saying it was “ridiculous” to promote the youngsters to the rigours of Test cricket without letting their bodies get “match-hardened”.
“It’s pretty ridiculous that you’ve got young blokes, who are talented and take the next step but haven’t had enough overs under their belt,” he was quoted as saying by a Sydney daily.
“Maybe they are not match-hardened enough for that next level,” he pointed out.
Waugh, however, maintained that it would have been worth to witness the duel between the Indian veterans and young Australian fast bowlers.
“It would have been great for the crowds to see that. India will be very pleased not to see Pat Cummins in the side,” he insisted.
The 18-year-old fast bowler was ruled out of the second Test against South Africa and the subsequent home series against New Zealand after he suffered a heel injury while playing in his debut match in Johannesburg last month.
Though, he has not been officially ruled out of the entire Test series against India starting December 26 in Melbourne, Cummins is unlike to feature in the upcoming four Tests.
“To play Test cricket you need to be bowling a lot (beforehand). Probably he’s not going to bowl for anywhere between four and six weeks, depending on how he’s going,” Australian team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said.
Kountouris conceded that it would be a tough task to get Cummins back on the field before the Adelaide Test.
“It’s going to be hard to bring him back up for the latter part of the Indian series,” he added.
Meanwhile, a heel injury might have ruled him out for bulk of the home Test series against India, but Cummins is in no mood to give up hope yet and said he is expecting to be fit in time for the fourth and final match of the rubber at Adelaide Oval.
Although Cummins has set his eyes on the Twenty20 international against India on February 1 to mark his return to international cricket, he has not completely ruled out his availability for the final Test on January 24.
“CA are working closely with Cricket NSW with all my rehab and we’ll be working on it all summer. I’ll definitely be watching and looking forward to getting back as soon as possible,” he said.
“I’ll just rest it up for the next couple of weeks. I’ll start building up the running again by early January and bowling so I’m right not too long after that.”
“The one-day series and Twenty20, I’m still definitely looking at, and maybe even the back of the Tests. It’s only a couple more weeks,” Cummins was quoted. (PTI)
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