Pat Cummins was an outsider for the role of captaincy of this Australian side. He is different, has adopted his own way, and has been very successful. From being called an outsider to captain the Australian side to winning 2 ICC Trophies along with a drawn-away Ashes series, Pat Cummins has already cemented his name as one of the greatest captains in his short tenure. He has won a test series in Pakistan and nearly won in Sri Lanka and India. Not bad, right?
The whole captaincy chapter of Pat Cummins has been quite interesting. He was announced as the captain of the test side due to the sudden retirement of Tim Paine who was involved in a sexting scandal. It was a sudden change for him and the team. A fast bowler being a captain of the side is a rarity. And for someone like Cummins who is an integral part of the bowling attack, he has to do the heavy lifting job of bowling long spells. Hence workload was always going to be an issue to him. Then with the retirement of Aaron Finch, he was named as the captain of the Australian ODI side. Captaining 2 challenging formats was always going to be challenging for a fast bowler. There were questions lingering about his fitness and workload. Will he be able to manage the captaincy along with his bowling? Will he get overburdened?
But it is an innate Cummins behavior to rise against all odds, all conditions, and challenges. His captaincy just like his bowling is about doing the hard yards staying away from the limelight. Just like his bowling, it may sound dull and boring at times, but it works wonders for the team. It is methodical and repetive just like the way he keeps zoning in the balls on and around the off stump suffocating the batters. Just like his bowling, his captaincy is about tiring the opposition and pricing out a big mistake from them. It is a little un-Australian in a way.
The most un-Australian thing is that you would never see him sledge or be in the face of the opposition. He is always smiling, calm and away from the limelight. While most of the past Australian captains fought fire with fire, Cummins fights fire with ice to nullify the opposition threat. The spread out field on the first morning of an Ashes series seemed to be a timid approach by the Australians. He got thrashed by the former Australian players about this approach. But in the end, it proved to be effective. Just when the boundary options were cut down, the English batters gifted their wickets in impatience. The Aussie speedster is a quick reader of the game. Even in the final of the World Cup, just when the ball was not coming on to the bat, Cummins took off the slip fielders and put them into catching positions on the leg side. The tight field settings against the spinners to deny Virat and KL singles proved to be a game changer. Indians could just get 4 boundaries in the overs 11-40, the game changing phase of a cricket match. The fine third man against Suryamukar with no one on the boundary straight down the ground again proved to be a masterstroke by Cummins. He denied Suryakumar big shots which resulted in a false stroke.
These qualities are due to his bowling smartness. As a bowler, he quickly judges the line and lengths of the pitch. The way he adopted by bowling cutters and hard lengths on the sluggish Motera pitch was remarkable. While all focus was on Hazlewood and Starc, he bowled a match winning spell with the biggest wicket of Virat Kohli. He made each and every cricket pundit stare in awe by his decision to bowl first in a pressure match. Again, it proved to be one of the finest decisions of his captaincy career. He backed his decision with smartness on the field. There are very few matches that are won by captaincy alone. You could say that Australia won the Final of the ICC World Cup 2023 due to the tactical genius of Pat Cummins.
It is time that people acknowledge Cummins’ impact on this Australian side. He has brought the team together post the Justin Langer saga. He has brought a seamless transition in ODI and test captaincy. Pat Cummins and management have freed up Travis Head and unleashed an absolute beast.
It will take time to sink in what Cummins the leader has achieved. He became the captain just 2 years ago. Already he has an illustrious portfolio. Maybe, the Pat Cummins era has just begun…
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