It was Pat Cummins once again whose persistence with impeccable lines and lengths bore fruit at the stroke of lunch at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, 26 December.
The returning captain got the Boxing Day crowd hyped up on the final ball of the first session by removing Dawid Malan for 14 runs. He edged Malan back to the keeper by keeping the ball up in the channel much like his dismissal of Haseeb Hameed.
With Malan’s wicket, Cummins scalped all three wickets in the morning, having removed Zak Crawley and Haseeb Hamid in his first spell. Cummins is returning to his captaincy duties after a week's isolation enforced due to a Covid-19 related incident right ahead of the Adelaide Test match.
With Malan’s wicket, Australia would feel that they can make quick work of the batting order having broken the 115-ball partnership of the Malan-Root duo.