It was business as usual for Australia Test captain Pat Cummins on return to competitive cricket after a gap of over five months. Cummins was nursing a back injury and as a precautionary measure, sat out
from the opening two Tests of the ongoing Ashes series against England at home as Australia, led by Steve Smith, took a 2-0 lead.
Having returned to captain on the opening day of the third Test in Adelaide which got underway on Wednesday, Cummins took the new ball with Mitchell Starc and nearly got a wicket with his fourth delivery when England opener Ben Duckett edged one with soft hands with the ball bouncing before the third slip.
Cummins though didn’t have to wait long for his first scalp of the series as he dismissed England opener Zak Crawley in the eighth over of England innings.
And then he landed a big blow with the scalp of Joe Root in his sixth over of the innings as the centurion of the pink-ball Test was adjudged caught behind on 19 off 21.
It was the 12th time in his Test career that Cummins has gotten rid of Root, arguably the best Test batter of the current generation. He thus moved past India’s Jasprit Bumrah and countryman Starc in the list of bowlers to have got the better of Root the greatest number of times.
Bumrah and Starc have dismissed Root 11 times each.
Bowlers to have dismissed Root most times in Tests
- Pat Cummins – 12
- Jasprit Bumrah – 11
- Mitchell Starc – 11
- Josh Hazlewood – 10
- Ravindra Jadeja – 9
The record for dismissing a batter for most number of times in Tests is held by the legendary Glenn McGrath who dislodged ex-England captain Mike Atherton a whopping 19 times in 17 matches.
The 32-year-old Cummins also went past Brett Lee to become Australia’s 7th most prolific wicket-taker in Tests and is now just one wicket away from drawing level with Mitchell Johnson (313)
