Cricket greats SLAM Pat Cummins for ‘desperate’ use of reviews in the second Test against India

Allan Border and Michael Hussey led a chorus of critics after Pat Cummins burned all three reviews within one of session on a topsy-turvy day of Test cricket in Delhi.

Twice in the first hour of Day Two of the second Test, the Aussie captain opted to send a decision upstairs in a bid to remove KL Rahul, only for the DRS to uphold the on-field call.

Having burnt his first two reviews, Cummins then opted against reviewing an LBW call against Cheteshwar Pujara, who looked to have been trapped in front by Nathan Lyon.

Pujara was given not out, but replays showed he would have been out for a duck had Cummins opted to review the call.  Eventually, the Indian batter departed without scoring as Lyon struck. 

Hussey was scathing of Australia’s approach, claiming their decision to burn through their reviews in quick succession smacked of desperation.

Pat Cummins burned all his three reviews in the first session of the second Test in Delhi

Cheteshwar Pujara (right) would have been given out for a duck had Australia reviewed the decision after the Indian batter was given not out on the field

Former Australia captain Allan Border (left) and Mike Hussey (right) were highly critical of the way Cummins used the reviews at his disposal in the second Test

‘They were desperate to get early wickets and I think they probably lost a bit of control there,’ he said on Fox Cricket.

‘Maybe the mentality was just use them […] if we get them wrong, so be it, we’ll move on.

‘Would be nice to just have one just in the back pocket in case there is the howler there […] especially if it’s a big wicket – someone like [Virat] Kohli.’

Border was even more blunt in his assessment, suggesting Cummins wasn’t the right man to oversee the review process.

‘You’ve got to take the emotion as much as you can out of it,’ he said.

‘Say [to the bowler]: “You go and stand over there mate, and we’ll have a bit of a chat.”

‘The keeper’s got to have a really strong view on it otherwise you’re going to get a lot of those [reviews] wrong.’

Matthew Hayden, meanwhile, noted Cummins would have normally reviewed the call against Pujara had he not wasted two reviews earlier in the innings.

‘It would have been a hope review which they’ve done now twice,’ the former Aussie opener said.

It’s a confidence thing isn’t it, the review process. [He’s] taken a couple earlier [and] wasted them.

‘If they had not taken those reviews earlier, they most certainly would have gone up for that.’

There was more controversy with 24.4 overs gone, as Cummins used his third review after Shreyas Iyer survived an appeal off the bowling of Todd Murphy.

Mark Waugh claimed Todd Murphy (right) ‘conned’ Cummins into using a review

Australia used their third review after Shreyas Iyer survived an appeal off the bowling of Murphy, but DRS and UltraEdge handed the Indian batter a reprieve 

Replays and UltraEdge indicated Iyer did not hit the ball, which popped to short leg off his pad, and the Indian batter survived an LBW appeal after DRS showed the ball had pitched outside the line.

Speaking on commentary, Mark Waugh said Murphy, who made his Test debut in Nagpur last week, had ‘conned’ Cummins into using a review. 

‘It just didn’t look right [the catch appeal] – there was a couple of players around the bat excited and a couple who weren‘t,’ the former Australian national selector said.

‘I think Todd Murphy has conned Pat Cummins there.’

Lyon spared Cummins some blushes, taking four wickets in the first session to reduce India to 4-87 at lunch. The hosts dug in after the resumption and reached tea on 7-179, with Axar Patel and Ravi Ashwin launching a brilliant counterattack to frustrate the Aussie bowlers.