Australia registered a series win over India in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy after 10 long years as they beat India 3-1. Reflecting on this, Cummins was happy to have lifted the trophy and he felt that the icing on the cake was sealing their spot for the World Test Championship final in June as well.
“As a captain, do you feel you have completed cricket now?” was one of the questions Australian skipper Pat Cummins faced in the post-match press conference. He jokingly said, “Unfortunately, I’ve got to keep playing!”
“It’s a huge win. In the context of this series, it’s as big a series as you’re going to play at home. It felt like it was kind of see-sawing throughout the whole series. So, to finish it 3-1, to hold the trophy, is an amazing feeling. I think the extra layer is now securing a spot in the World Test Championship final, which was always a huge goal for us in this cycle. And we’ve done it, so, yeah, really satisfied,” he again shared.
“I was really happy with our preparation going into the first Test. I think, you know, if you don’t play well, that gets questioned. But if you do play well, people just forget about it. I think, you know, team unity-we were always, for the most part, really good. This summer we’ve been awesome. You know, the group’s been really tight and very honest even when we weren’t at our best,” he further added.
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It was also the first time since the 1997 Ashes that Australia bounced back from 1-0 down to win a series. They came back to win in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney after the initial Perth defeat as well. But Cummins said that it was still a challenge for them after the draw at the Gabba and the Melbourne Test going down to the wire as well.
“I think, you know, it being a five-Test match series, it helps,” Cummins said. “But you saw with the Gabby [Gabba], you do start thinking, you know, anything can happen. And then MCG goes down to the last hour. You do feel like you might play really well and not have a series win to show for it. I think when you start a series behind, a lot of things get questioned, fairly and unfairly. But, again, I think it shows the strength of the group to kind of stay strong, know that we weren’t our best, but we can be better, not get caught up in a lot of the external noise and clutter, and just focus on what makes us good players and a good team. Yeah, really, that’s one of the most rewarding parts of this series win.”
As captain, Pat Cummins has now won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the Ashes, the Trans-Tasman Trophy, and the World Test Championship mace – the four major trophies as well. Cummins referenced the learnings from other big series he has led or been part of, which have helped him grow as a captain in the Australian side. He also felt that one of the most important things as a captain was managing the fast-bowlers’ workload, especially in a long series as well.
“I think, you know, you definitely draw experience from past Ashes series or any big series. Probably one of the most important things is managing your resources throughout the five-Test match series. So, that’s managing your bowlers’ workload, but also your energy. You know, making sure you’re not kind of riding the waves too much and have a really strong process and try to stick to that for the five Test matches. I think, you know, over the course of the series, you get to look at our opposition. So, maybe plans change a little bit [during the tour]. You get a bit of a feel of kind of the tempo, and you try and maybe tweak that. Yeah, I’d say they’re probably the things I think about most over the course of a five-match series.”
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“You know, I think he’s one of those quintessential all-rounders where you feel like they’re going to contribute in every facet of the game,” Cummins said. “And he proved that, you know, this Test match, really important overs. Thought he bowled beautifully, some great catches, and two really important knocks. So it just feels like he always is involved with the game. I think he was right beside Scottie [Boland] as Player of the Match.”
“You know, when you kind of build the package together [the XI with Green and Webster], it’s, yeah, you think if they’re in the best kind of six batters, but also they can contribute a little bit with the ball. They’re both amazing kind of gully, second, third slip fielders as well. So, yeah, just because he’s an all-rounder doesn’t mean that you can’t have two of them,” Pat Cummins concluded.
