Ian Chappell exhibits his worry over Pat Cummins’ workload

Former Australian Test captain Ian Chappell has shown his concerns about fast bowler Pat Cummins, who he feels has bowled for the last time this series. Chappell said it seems as though captain Steve Smith gambled by keeping Cummins in the mix during India’s 210 over-innings of 9/603 knowing that will increase the risk that the bowler will not be available for the final Test of the series.

With Australia likely to draw the third Test, Chappell feels it’s a call that may not leave his side with any happy returns. The former skipper told Cricinfo that Cummins’ lack of red-ball cricket preparation means he was not ready for the back-to-back Test trials.

“That doesn’t get you ready for Test cricket,” he said of the bowler’s Sheffield Shield appearance before his Test recall.

“My fear is he’s worked so damn hard in this game and it may well be that Steve Smith was thinking, ‘All right I’ll keep pushing him and pushing him and pushing him in an attempt to win this test match. If we win this one then we’ll worry about the fourth one later on’.

He further continued to express his fear of the quick not included in the Dharamsala match. “Steve Smith is definitely more comfortable using his quickies than his spinners. Sure, he used his spinners a helluva lot, but you can see why he wants that third allrounder being a pace bowler.”

And he didn’t shy away from saying that if Australia had Mitch Marsh or Marcus Stoinis, they would have got a lot more overs.

Cummins was compelled to bowl 39 overs during India’s first innings and finished with 4/106.

Chappell opined that India would almost force a result on the 5^th Day, led by spinner Ravi Jadeja.

“I really don’t like their chances of surviving with only eight wickets in hand now,” he said of Australia’s batting order. But seems like the match is heading towards a draw.