Sydney [Australia], January 5 : Following his side's win over India in Sydney during the final Test, Australia skipper Pat Cummins hailed all-rounder Beau Webster for a memorable international debut, saying that he played two important knocks and delivered some much-needed overs with the ball as well.
Webster could not have asked for a much better debut in international cricket, as he provided the pace trio of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland with some respite with his 17 overs and took a wicket. With the bat, he played knocks of 57 and 39* and also got to hit the winning runs for Australia that helped them secure the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in 10 years.
Speaking about the all-rounder in the post-match presser, Cummins called him as one of the
"quintessential all-rounders", saying, "Yeah, Beau was huge in this Test. You know, I think he is one of those quintessential all-rounders where you feel like they are going to contribute in every facet of the game That is what he does for Tasmania. And he proved that, you know, this Test match. Really important overs, thought he bowled beautifully. Some great catches and two really important knocks."
"So he just feels like he always is involved with the game. He could not have had a better day, Bo. I think he was, you know, right beside Scotty as player of the match," he added.
Coming to the SCG Test, India won the toss and elected to bat first. India was off to a disappointing start yet again as the top order threw away their wickets, especially Virat Kohli (17) who continued his struggles with outside off-stump deliveries.
However, the fight by Pant (40 in 98 balls, with three fours and a six), Ravindra Jadeja (26 in 95 balls, with three fours) and skipper Jasprit Bumrah (22 in 17 balls, with three fours and a six) pushed India to 185/10 in 72.2 overs.
Boland (4/31) was the pick of the bowlers for the Aussies and once again a thorn in the eyes of Indian batters. Mitchell Starc took 3/49 while Pat Cummins got 2/37.
In their first innings, Australia lost wickets at regular intervals even when Jasprit Bumrah (2/33) walked off the field due to an injury scare. Under the stand-in skipper Virat, India continued to dominate the Aussies, skittling them out for just 181 runs and taking a four-run lead. Debutant Beau Webster (57 in 105 balls, with five fours) had a fine showing with the bat and Steve Smith (33 in 57 balls, with four boundaries and a six) showed some attacking intent.
Prasidh Krishna (3/42) and Mohammed Siraj (3/51) were the top bowlers for India.
With a lead of four runs, India was off to a promising start thanks to Yashasvi Jaiswal (22 in 35 balls, with four boundaries) and KL Rahul (13) as they put on a 45-run stand. But Boland (6/45) troubled the Indian batting once again. Pant did put up a counter-attack with 61 in 33 balls (six fours and four sixes), but India was bundled out for 157 runs, setting up 162 for the Aussies to win. Bumrah could not bowl in the final innings.
Australia was in trouble for a while during chase of 162 runs at 58/3, but knocks from Usman Khawaja (41 in 45 balls, with four boundaries), Travis Head (34* in 38 balls, with four boundaries) and Webster (39* in 34 balls, with six fours) guided the team to a six-wicket win, despite fight put up by Prasidh Krishna (3/65).
Boland was the 'Player of the Match' for his ten-wicket haul while Bumrah walked away with the 'Player of the Series' award with 32 wickets.