Kolkata too hot for Oz to handle

Australia quick bowler Pat Cummins described the conditions in Kolkata on Thursday as the hottest he has played an ODI in.

The tourists struggled on a steamy day at Eden Gardens in Kolkata with wicketkeeper Matthew Wade seen to be vomiting on the field.

Cummins would label the conditions hotter than Dhaka but slightly cooler than Chittagong with Australia having already experienced late summer heat in Bangladesh this month.

The fast bowler told media: “It felt similar to Dhaka, I reckon, just below Chittagong.

“But that’s the hottest one-day game anyone said they’ve played. I think the 50 overs felt like it was about 200 overs out there.

“You only had to look at ‘Wadey’ (wicketkeeper Matthew Wade), it was 15 overs in and he was on all fours. So it’s not great conditions.”

The game started an hour earlier than normal to counteract the dew factor later at night but left Australia sweating through their kit.

Cummins added: “You pretty much try and change all your clothes because they’re just sodden through with sweat.

“If you’ve got strapping you try and get that re-strapped. You just try and get one or two overs just to cool down and have some ice blocks, change all your gear and try and freshen up.”

The bowlers were disappointed after they pulled India back from a great start to restrict them to a gettable 252 only to have poor batting cost them victory.

Cummins went on: “As a player and a teammate it’s frustrating when it’s out of your control.

“We got in a position in both games where we could’ve taken the game away from India.

“It was unfortunate that there was a couple of wickets but we’ve just got to try and find a way to fix that up. There’s still three games left so we can still win the series.

“I thought it was a great effort from the five or six bowlers.

“There were no big overs so I think to keep them to 250 on a really good batting wicket and batting conditions in the afternoon, I thought it was a great job.”

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