In a split second before he stepped out to bat, Peter Handscomb gave Pat Cummins a true nod of resignation as they crossed paths in the dressing room tunnel. It sounded a lot like, "I tried my best captain," almost. Fair enough, despite the confusion and bad shot choice, Handscomb had been run out by possibly the most effective wicket-taking delivery we had seen that morning in Delhi. In contrast to several of his teammates who had actually contributed to their own doom, the Victorian captain had recently been out-skilled by Ravindra Jadeja. He hadn't really done anything bad.
However, Cummins was not immediately required to handle Jadeja's subsequent delivery. The umpires had already had their beverage break four minutes before it was scheduled. That allowed the Australian skipper some breathing room and enabled him to speak with Alex Carey briefly. The erratic heave came next. Regrettably, this shot will be discussed again and again for a while as the investigations into Australia's dramatic collapse on the third morning of the Kotla Test continue.
It wasn't the first time a batter in an Indian Test match who was on top had succumbed to the heat. A batter had earlier taken the most rash shot they could to deal with the special pressure that comes with taking up the challenge. Yet this was a unique situation. Cummins' manic shot was one of the frenetic replies to the Indian spinners' relentless interrogation. The intrinsically anarchic nature of Test cricket in India, which can besiege visiting teams whenever they least expect it, did not appear to be the source of this, though. If anything, it was more illustrative of the hysteria that seemed to have swept across the Australian camp concerning a problem that few people in Kotla, including the Indians, had ever heard of.
Cummins' shot looks strange, much like the fall itself. It had suddenly materialized. In Nagpur, you should have seen it coming. Australia's batting gave up without a fight once the Indian spinners got going on Day 2 since they had been playing catch-up for so long on Day 2 and in the lead-up to the second session on Day 3.
Cricket betting is still prohibited in India according to the Public Gambling Act of 1867, a law created during the British Raj. It becomes difficult there since the act also states that skill-based games are exempt from the law. Cricket wagering is not legally against the law because the Indian Supreme Court determined that the sport is a skill-based one rather than a game of chance. Nonetheless, gambling on games of chance like roulette or slot machines is prohibited by Indian law.
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