Australia hosted Sri Lanka shortly after they lost a home series to India for the first time, in 2018/19. There were two vice-captains in the squad, Pat Cummins and Travis Head. Cummins took his first ten-wicket haul that series, and 29 wickets in next summer’s Ashes, in England. In a few months’ time, he was the lone vice-captain of the Test side.
Pat Cummins in action against MI. Image: Twitter @IPL
Then the pandemic happened. When cricket returned, Cummins went from strength to strength, and Paine’s indifferent form continued. There were calls for Paine to be sacked, even dropped, but Cricket Australia was not keen on a change of guard.
Even if they sacked Paine, they were unlikely to appoint a fast bowler as captain – or that was the general idea. Fast bowlers are often stereotyped as non-thinkers who specialise in grunt work. There are also theories of them requiring to switch off between overs instead of focusing on strategies. And as the most injury-prone species among cricketers, they were also likely to miss matches.
Then, Paine’s sudden end came just like his ascent to the hot spot – in the aftermath of a scandal. For the first time in their history – and the history of Australian cricket is long and rich – Australia appointed a fast bowler as full-time captain, that too for the Ashes.
But Pat Cummins was no ordinary fast bowler. In 2019, he had reached an ICC rating of 914 in Test cricket, the joint best in Australian history (with Glenn McGrath) and the joint sixth-best overall. He had been at the top of the rankings since 5 August 2019. And even after taking over as mantle, the best bowler in the world, now captain, was happy to bowl first-change, after Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
Cummins missed a Test match that summer but still took 21 wickets at 18.04. Every bowling change he made worked that summer – or at least seemed to. In fact, everything he touched seemed to turn to gold that summer. Australia demolished England 4-0 to retain the Ashes.
He had an easy start, some pointed out, and not unreasonably. Australia had, after all, won the last two Ashes at home 5-0 (2013/14) and 4-0 (2016/17). Cummins was hardly tested. Australia would be tested in Pakistan, they assured.
Before 2021/22, Australia had not toured Pakistan in 23 years. And in the 16 years before the tour, they had won only one series in Asia, in Sri Lanka in 2011. On flat, slow wickets where reverse swing held the key, Pakistan were as dangerous as any side in the world.
Before that, however, there was another hurdle to overcome. In the aftermath of the controversial resignation of head coach Justin Langer, former Australian cricketers – many of them Langer’s former teammates – lashed out at Cummins. ‘He had failed his first big test as captain miserably,’ wrote Mitchell Johnson.
But the Golden Boy of Australian Cricket – it is time to pass on that mantle from Kim Hughes to Cummins – was unperturbed. He calmly addressed the media, defended his teammates, responded to his critics, and left for Pakistan with a new coach.
The Australians were welcomed by slow, low pitches, where 42 wickets fell across the first two Tests. In the second of these, Cummins set Pakistan 506 runs in almost two full days. Pakistan played out time to save the Test.
In the third Test, Cummins and Starc broke open a dead Test match with a devastating spell of reverse swing in the third afternoon. Then, on a pitch where batting was not difficult, Cummins set Pakistan 351 in a little under four sessions – and took flak when Pakistan finished Day 4 on 72/0.
Declarations can be tricky in Test cricket, but it is perhaps more difficult for bowling captains, particularly for bowlers of Cummins’ stature. Their job does not end with the declaration: they have to take charge of the fourth innings in order to justify it.
It was a bold decision, but Cummins knew what he was doing. He played his part, bowling at hostile pace in the heat, moving the old ball dangerously, following his 5-56 in the first innings with 3-23 in the second.
IPL, however, was going to be different. The Pakistan tour had kept him away for three matches in 2022. In an edition where even uncapped cricketers showed surprisingly less respect for the stars, his maiden appearance was going to be a challenge.
Cummins began with a fast over. Ishan Kishan carted him for four and. Then a ball flew off the bat of Dewald Brevis over the wicketkeeper for six. He found his rhythm in his second over, beating Suryakumar Yadav, then cramping him for space.
He then had Kishan caught at mid-wicket with one that came quicker than the batter, struggling for runs and desperate to cut loose, had anticipated. Tilak Varma went after him in his third, but in his fourth over, he got Suryakumar caught behind.
His figures stood at 3.1-0-26-2 at this point. Not exceptional but impressive. He finished with 4-0-49-2 after Kieron Pollard smashed three sixes in five balls, two of them edges that soared over third man.
Was this it, then? Was Pat Cummins finally about to taste failure this season.
A few eyebrows were raised when he was promoted above Sunil Narine, presumably to retain the right-left combination. Kolkata needed 61 in 41 balls, but they had only five wickets in hand. It was Mumbai’s match to lose.
Cummins ended that over with six and four off Tymal Mills, and followed that with another set of six and four, off Jasprit Bumrah. He had raced to 22 from eight balls. The equation looked better, but Kolkata still needed 35 in 30…
Rohit Sharma turned to Daniel Sams. He probably wanted to save Bumrah and Mills for later. Alas, they never got a chance.
The first ball flew over long on. The second, slightly wider than that. The third, even wider. Sams changed his length, but Cummins timed his swivel-pull to perfection. Six, four, six, six – the target was down to 11 in 26.
Cummins had arrived from Pakistan to change a match on its head with an onslaught that came out of nowhere. And he was not done.
Suryakumar took an incredible catch off the next ball, at long off – only for the umpires to signal a no-ball. Cummins smote the next ball past square leg for four to equal the record for the fastest IPL fifty, off just 14 balls.
A desperate Sams bowled outside off, cut down on his pace, but Cummins was not to be deceived. He lofted the ball over Sams to finish the match.
Australian cricket has seldom sunk lower than the Newlands Test match of 2011/12, when they were shot out for 47 in 18 overs and lost by eight wickets. In the next Test, Australia gave a Test cap to a teenager. At 18 years 193 days, Pat Cummins became Australia’s youngest Test debutant in 58 years.
Cummins took 1-38 and 6-79, but his job was not done. Australia needed 310, and at No. 10, he provided the finishing touches. He had not merely arrived: he had woken up the South Africans to announce his arrival.
Just like he did in India, in 2022.
Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor at CricketNews and co-author of Sachin and Azhar at Cape Town.
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