Matthew Kuhnemann and Nathan Lyon wreaked havoc over the Indian batters in the first hour of play in the Indore Test, the third Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023. The pair chipped out 5 Indian wickets inside 12 overs to leave India reeling at 45/5.
On his return after an injury layoff, Mitchell Starc was unlucky in the first as he had Rohit Sharma dismissed twice, but both times the umpire didn’t raise his finger and Australia didn’t take the review.
In the 6th over, however, Matthew Kuhnemann came in bowl and turned the game on its head. In his first over, he dismissed India skipper Rohit Sharma, the opener missing his slog after dancing down the track and got stumped. In the second over, Matthew Kuhnemann dismissed Shubman Gill, edging to first slip.
Nathan Lyon then took the next two wickets – that of Pujara and Jadeja – before Matthew Kuhnemann got rid of Shreyas Iyer, chopped on his own stumps.
Matthew Kuhnemann has left the Indian fans gasping on the morning of Day 1 in Indore.
The left-arm spinner has bowled brilliantly, and shown great control over his lines and lengths in what is just his career’s second Test, having made his Test debut in the previous game in Delhi.
What the fans do know about Matthew Kuhnemann is that he was not initially in this squad, but was called up after the first Test. He played in the second Test ahead of Ashton Agar, who was part of the initial squad. Agar has now been sent back home to play in domestic cricket while Matthew Kuhnemann has got his Test career off to a good speed.
Here are some interesting facts about Matthew Kuhnemann that many fans don’t know:
The 26-year-old had an experience of only 13 first-class matches, wherein he took 35 wickets at an average of 34.80, before he made his Test debut in Delhi.
This reflected two things: Australia didn’t have faith in Agar even though they brought him in the squad ahead of Kuhnemann; and that Kuhnemann’s average of 34 wih the ball didn’t do justice to his bowling, which has been superb so far in his short Test career.
Kuhnemann plays domestic cricket for Queensland. In fact, he was playing a playing Queensland’s Sheffield Shield match against Victoria in Melbourne when he received the news that he had been called up to India. He featured in 4 ODIs in 2022.
The left-arm spinner played in the BBL for Brisbane Heat and featured in the BBL 2023 final against Perth Scorchers. He returned with figures of 1/28 but ended up on the losing side in the final.
As a youngster, Kuhnemann was handed a rookie contact by Queensland for 2016-17. He is a former Australia Under-19 player and toured Sri Lanka in 2014, while he played for the Cricket Australia XI during their time in the domestic one-day competition.
Then, on his BBL debut, he snapped up two wickets and impressed everyone with his temperament. A Sheffield Shield debut with Queensland came in February 2021 and by 2022 he was touted the next big finger-spinner in Australian cricket to fill the shoes of Lyon.
