Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hosted the Indian and Australian teams in Sydney before the fifth Test match. The Prime Minister chatted with the players of both teams at Kirribilli House. Albanese talked about Jasprit Bumrah’s superb performance in the ongoing series. The Indian paceman has taken 30 wickets in four matches – most so far and also became the fastest Indian pacer to 200 wickets, achieving the feat in his 44th game.
The Australian PM lauded Bumrah and said it’s time to pass a law to rescue the Aussie batters from the Indian pacer’s wrath.
“We could pass a law here that says he has to bowl left-handed or off one step. Every time he has come onto bowl has been very exciting,” Albanese said during his interaction with the players, referring to Bumrah.
Meanwhile, he also talked about the young Australian batter Sam Konstas, who made his debut at MCG last week. He slammed 60 runs off 65 balls in the first innings, laced with 6 fours and a couple of sixes. His aggressive intent in front of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj drew the attention of the cricketing world.
Albanese took credit for his emergence of Konstas at the big stage, as he grabbed the selectors’ attention during India’s warm-up match against Prime Minister XI, in which he scored a century.
“Of course, he got his break in the Prime Minister’s XI [game],” Albanese said. “I’m claiming some of the credit, which is about my only contribution to national cricket,” he added.
‘Australia a tough place to tour’: Gautam Gambhir
Meanwhile, India head coach Gautam Gambhir, who has not attended any press conference on this tour, addressed the reporters and talked about playing in Australia and the last Tests at SCG.
“Australia is a beautiful country to travel but a tough place to tour,” Gambhir said. “Crowds have been absolutely amazing. We’ve got another Test match to go. Hopefully we can entertain the crowd.”
On the other hand, Australia skipper Pat Cummins is focussed on win the Border Gavaskar Trophy after a decade.
“The last week in Melbourne is right up there is one of the best Test matches we’ve been involved with,” Cummins said. “Over the five days, I’ve never seen anything like it. Looking forward to this week. It’s a decider. It’s our chance to win the series. Can’t wait,” he added.