Is Australia getting back to their best under Cummins’ leadership?
The Australian team seemed to be clueless in the longest format after a 1-2 defeat to a third-string Indian side at home in the 2020/21 season despite having drawn first blood at the pink-ball Test in Adelaide. They also lost out on the inaugural ICC World Test Championship final qualification as well.
The Aussies who were going downhill as far as their red-ball cricket is concerned witnessed a revival in fortune when pace sensation Pat Cummins took over the leadership reins in November 2021 as he has led the side to two successive Test series wins.
How Pat Cummins is turning out to be Australia’s lucky charm as Test captain?
Cummins was suddenly named Australia’s Test captain almost a month before the Ashes 2021/22 against arch-rivals England as veteran stumper Tim Paine had taken an indefinite break from the game after his alleged involvement in the infamous ‘sexting scandal’.
The onus was on the tearaway fast bowler to ensure that the ‘urn’ was safe down under and he proved his mettle right from the word ‘go’ as he took a fifer in the series opener at the Gabba where Australia registered a comfortable nine-wicket win. Despite not featuring in the second Test in Adelaide that was played under lights, the tall pacer finished as the leading wicket-taker for a third straight time in the Ashes with 21 scalps from four matches as the Aussies retained the urn with a comprehensive 4-0 win.
Pat Cummins ensured that the home Test series win was not a fluke by any means when Australia toured Pakistan after 1998/99 for an all-format bilateral series starting with three Tests. The first two games ended in a stalemate on dead wickets but Cummins did manage to pick up wickets consistently barring the second innings of the Rawalpindi Test.
The 28-year-old made it matter during the first innings of the final Test in Lahore with an outstanding fifer that rattled the Pakistan batting lineup as they were set to surpass Australia’s first innings lead. He finished with figures of 5/56. In the second innings, Cummins played a supporting role to offie Nathan Lyon and chipped in with 3/23 as Australia won the contest by 115 runs to seal the series 2-1.
Apart from leading the Aussies brilliantly from the front, Pat Cummins was yet again outstanding with the ball in hand as he finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker along with Lyon with 12 scalps to his name from five innings.
After leading Australia to famous Test series victories both at home and away i.e. on Asian soil, it remains to be seen whether Cummins will be able to get the job done on Indian soil later this year.
