Australia vs India 2018/19: 3 best players from the Boxing Day Test
After showing immense grit and determination, India finally won the Boxing Day Test match at Melbourne on day 5. India managed to win a Test match at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground after the span of 37 years. Last time they won a Test match at the iconic ground, was way back in1981 when they won a Test under the captaincy of legendary Sunil Gavaskar.
The loss at Perth had forced Team India to make some changes and thankfully all of the changes worked out pretty well. The fresh opening pair of debutant Mayank Agarwal and Hanuma Vihari did their job, Rohit Sharma contributed in the first inning and Ravindra Jadeja proved to be crucial with the ball in both of the innings.
There were some superb individual performances from both the teams which made everyone stand and applaud. So let us take a look at three of the best performers in the Boxing Day Test match.
#3 Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins is by far the best player for Australia in this series. He has not only contributed with the ball, but also has played some vital knocks with the bat. In fact, he has been batting better than their top order batsmen and ex-captain Michael Clarke even suggested that he should bat in the top 6.
Cummins achieved his career-best bowling figure and career-best batting figure together in this match. He constantly kept bowling in the right areas, and with his pace, batsmen were finding it difficult to get off the blocks. He was the only bowler who was successful in troubling Pujara and Kohli in the first innings.
The 25-year-old picked up 3 wickets in the first inning and followed it up with a 6-fer in the second innings. In both innings, he managed to get the wickets of India's top three. In fact, in the second innings, 5 of his six-wickets were of top 5 Indian batsmen.
Cummins was also very good with the bat in the match. He batted like a proper top order batsman in both the innings. He took the match into day 5 due to some brilliant batting. He made 63 runs in the second innings facing 114 balls.
With a figure of 9 for 99 in the match and add to that 80 runs with the bat, Cummins would have certainly got the man of the match award had Australia won the match. But he is certainly one of the best performers of the match.