Delhi: Australian captain Pat Cummins has praised Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and told how his team will face Bumrah in the fifth Test match starting in Sydney from Friday. Australia has a 2-1 lead in the current Test series and if it wins or draws the Sydney Test, it will lift the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time since 2014.
By winning the Sydney Test, Australia can secure a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final. In the press conference, Cummins praised Bumrah’s brilliant performance in 2024, in which he took 71 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 14.92. Bumrah became the Indian bowler with the highest rating points in the Test rankings on the first day of 2025 and overtook Ravichandran Ashwin.
‘Challenging to play against Bumrah’
Cummins said, “Bumrah is in great form and it is always challenging to play against him. Hopefully, by the time I come out to bat, he will be tired. I have played against him in different formats, and he has always challenged me.”
Referring to the Melbourne Test, he jokingly said, “In the last match, I was lucky because I was standing at the non-striker end when Bumrah was bowling.”
Changes in Australia’s playing-11 for Sydney Test
For the Sydney Test, Australia has dropped all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and included Beau Webster in the team, who will make his Test debut. Marsh could not impress with bat and ball in this series, where he scored only 73 runs at an average of 10.42. Captain Cummins said that the selectors have taken this decision considering his form. Webster will be the 469th player to play Test for Australia.
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