AHMEDABAD: Pat Cummins may be an uncommon captain, but he had a "phenomenal" performance on Sunday, leading Australia to their sixth World Cup victory over India.
Fast bowlers like Cummins are often hesitant to be named captain of their cricket team due to fear that the additional workload will prevent them from taking wickets.
Nevertheless, Cummins led Australia to a 4-0 series victory over England despite being forced into the captaincy just days before the 2021/22 Ashes began following Tim Paine's unexpected resignation due to a "sexting" controversy.
Then, in the World Test Championship final at The Oval in June of this year, Cummins oversaw Australia's 209-run thumping of India.
Cummins, 30, also doesn't match the stereotypically "macho" image of an Australian captain created by rough captains like Allan Border, Ian Chappell, and Steve Waugh. Despite this, the paceman was charged with conspiring to bring down the equally hard-bitten former coach Justin Langer.
When India defeated England in this year's second Test in Delhi, Border declared, "I'd be playing with a harder edge." The people who play the goodie two shoes are the Kiwis, or people from New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Cummins' involvement with the "Cricket for Climate" organization gave rise to rumors that he had persuaded Cricket Australia to back out of a sponsorship agreement with energy provider Alinta. Both he and his superiors refuted these claims.
"NOTHING MEANS WOKE"
Some critics have called him "woke."
In January, Cummins said, "I don't even know what 'woke' means," to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Few opponents, however, would describe Cummins—an exceptional bowler with 239 wickets at an average of 22.94 in 55 Tests and 141 at an average of 28.66 in 88 One-Day Internationals—as a soft touch.
When Jonny Bairstow was controversially declared out stumped during an Ashes Test at Lord's in July, even though the England batsman believed the ball was dead, his steel was on display when he refused to withdraw an appeal.
Australia prevailed in that encounter and went on to win the Ashes in a 2-2 series.
Given that injuries forced him to wait six years for a second Test appearance following his debut at the age of eighteen, Cummins is no stranger to resiliency.
And despite losing their first two World Cup games, Cummins, a bright spot after the ball-tampering controversy in South Africa in 2018 that cost Steve Smith the captaincy, has now guided his nation to a record-tying sixth World Cup victory.
On Sunday, teammate Mitchell Starc remarked, "Pat Cummins was phenomenal.
Cummins has additionally shown composure when needed.
That was made clear when, in Mumbai, Australia had fallen to 91-7 and he held up the end as Glenn Maxwell's incredible double century completed an incredible three-wicket victory over Afghanistan in the pool.
Then, in a nail-biting run chase against South Africa in the semi-final, he maintained composure at bat.
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