Australia 'stung' by criticism, says Gilchrist; praises aggressive Cummins

Adelaide, Dec 10 (PTI) Legendary wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist believes Australia were "stung" by the criticism following their loss in Perth, but have returned to their best, driven by captain Pat Cummins' controlled aggression.

Australia, who had drawn a lot of flak for the 295-run loss in the opening Perth Test, bounced back by registering an emphatic 10-wicket win in the second game to level the five match series 1-1.

"You could see just through his (Cummins) celebrations that… every wicket that he took he was more aggressive in his celebration," Gilchrist said on Fox Cricket.

"Not in that lose control extent but you could just see that clearly they'd been stung by a bit of criticism around after their performance (in Perth) and they internally would have been so disappointed with the way they played in Perth.

"So it (Adelaide celebrations) showed you what it meant to them and they knew that they were back at the level they want to play their cricket," Gilchrist added.

The former wicketkeeper-batter said it felt the captain had "a grease and oil change" after the lacklustre performance at Perth.

"Cummins was outstanding, he looked like if there needed a bit of a grease and oil change after Perth and a tune up, he was purring by the end of it, so that was terrific to watch." In the pink ball Test, the pace trioka of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland took all 20 Indian wickets with spinner Nathan Lyon bowling just one over.

"They were just a unit, the three bowlers, Nathan Lyon only had one over (in the match) and Mitch Marsh four, but other than that the big three, Starc, Boland, Cummins hunted as a pack and bowled as a unit and that was really fun to watch," Gilchrist added. PTI