Pat Cummins. (Photo Source: ICC)
Australia skipper Pat Cummins recently came forward and talked about the decision to move veteran batter Steve Smith back down in the middle order. Cummins revealed that Smith was convinced of moving down the middle order as he failed to find much success as an opener.
It is worth noting that Smith had started to open the innings after David Warner retired. However, Smith has only one half-century as an opener, and he will be keen on getting back to his best when he moves into number four.
Interestingly, Australia is set to take on India in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series, which is scheduled to begin from November 22 and the first Test of the series will be played in Perth. Smith could feature in the middle order for Australia against India.
“Yeah we had a chat … we probably still hadn’t made our mind up and we knew there was a bit of water to go under the bridge. Also with Cam’s injury and a few rounds of Shield games … we chatted about it and I think it makes sense now. He was really excited by the challenge of opening last year and he’s really glad he did it, but I think after giving it a go, he thought he was best suited at four,” Cummins told 9news.
I’ve seen a little bit of Sam: Cummins
Furthermore, Pat Cummins talked about the potential of youngster Sam Konstas. The 19-year-old recently scored twin centuries in the Sheffield Shield fixture for New South Wales. Talking about his performances, Cummins opined that Konstas is yet to be tested against quality bowling attacks.
“I’ve seen a little bit of Sam. He obviously played really well last week, but he’s young and you really don’t know what someone is made of until they’re out there. If you keep scoring runs and doing well in domestic cricket it sets you up pretty well,” Cummins said.