Australia captain Pat Cummins celebrates the wicket of Virat Kohli during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 finals.
| Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak
Australian captain Pat Cummins couldn’t believe his ears when he found a near 100,000 people at Narendra Modi Stadium go pin-drop silence after Virat Kohli’s dismissal giving the vibe of a “quiet library” during the World Cup final against India.
Australia won their sixth title beating India by six wickets but many believe that Cummins getting India’s No. 1 batter played on, became the turning point of the match.
“We’re in a huddle after the wicket of Kohli in the final & (Steve) Smith says,’Boys, listen to the crowd.” And we just took a moment of pause, and it was as quiet as a library, 100,000-plus Indians there & it was so quiet. I’ll savour that moment for a long time,” Cummins told ‘The Age’ during an interaction.
Late, he spoke to reporters and said that to hold the Trophy, it took a lot out of him and his team.
“To hold one trophy takes a lot. But, to hold them across formats really shows our amazing coaching group and also the squad of players,” Cummins told reporters in Sydney on November 28 during a World Cup event.
“You can’t do that with 11 players. You need 25 really good players. So, it shows the strength of Australian cricket at the moment and the appetite of the guys to compete whenever they play.” “Everything takes a lot out of you, but the guys keep rocking up and performing, which is as pleasing as anything else.”
Words like rest and rotations get thrown around
Workload management might be in vogue in world cricket for past few years but Cummins believes that words like “rest” and “rotation” are loosely thrown around when reality is nobody likes to miss a Test if he is fully fit.
Cummins, who has led the Australian team to World Test Championship and ODI World Cup glory in 2023, said that despite a long season, his unit is raring to go during the coming Australian Summer which starts with Test series against Pakistan on December 14.
“Realistically, the word rest and rotated gets thrown around a lot, but you never miss a Test if you are fully fit,” “While over the last couple of years, we might have been rested from the odd game, the bulk of work we’ve been able to do is because of those small gaps. If we are fully fit, we won’t be resting.” He recalled that as pacers, the players are bound to feel some niggle somewhere or the other but they should not be bogged down by it.
“You are always dealing with something as a bowler. When your hamstring starts to feel, then you feel a pain somewhere else, then you wake up the next day, and it’s moved somewhere else,” Cummins continued.
Currently, a second-string Aussie squad is currently competing in a five-match T20I series in India.
