Pat Cummins shouldn’t be taken lightly on spin-friendly Indian tracks

Like the other Aussies, he also stated that India Tests will be difficult. But at the same time, he is also someone against whom the Indian batters are preparing a lot.

Pat Cummins shouldn’t be taken lightly on spin-friendly Indian tracks

Pat Cummins

The talk of the town these days is about spinners and pitches. Australian batsmen seem impressed with the work done at the Nagpur track, and social media is also flooded with its images. But Aussie skipper Pat Cummins is not bothered too much. Like the other Aussies, he also stated that India Tests will be difficult. But at the same time, he is also someone against whom the Indian batters are preparing a lot.

“Home match advantage, I don’t think it’s terrible thing. It’s another challenge and makes touring over here even harder when you know the conditions are custom-made for them,” Cummins played down pitch concerns while talking to the reporters.

When spearheads like Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer are failing to keep injuries at bay, maybe due to workload management, Cummins has been playing tirelessly and consistently pitching impactful deliveries. He has played 46 of the last 50 Tests and only spinner Nathan Lyon played more than him in their bowling department.

This wasn’t the case for this No.1 Test bowler at all when he walked to the field for the first time in November 2011 against South Africa. At that time, that raw youth produced a Man-of-the-Match performance, with the bat as well. After that lone Test, an 18-year-old Cummins missed five-and-a-half years of cricket with bone stress in his heel. It showed that the teen body was not ready to get loaded with the rigors of Test cricket.

He made his comeback in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in 2017 in the Ranchi Test. The track was completely lifeless and other Aussie bowlers could do little, but Cummins bagged four, leaving India six downs before Cheteshwar Pujara and Wriddiman Saha saved India from faltering. India reached a massive 603/9d, while Cummins had completed 39 overs. The interesting thing about this is that he has never bowled more overs in a Test innings.

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Pat Cummins says their bowlers have been good in all conditions

Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins

He doesn’t bat much these days. Fans can remember his scintillating 56 off 14 with four boundaries and six maximums against Mumbai Indians while representing the Kolkata Knight Riders in last year’s Indian Premier League (IPL).

He opted to keep himself out of the cash-rich league because he knows what the cricketing calendar has ahead this year- after the Test matches against India, the high-octane Ashes, and a possible World Test Championship. Cummins knows how to manage his workload, not to forget he is a captain also. Since becoming the leader, he quashed the debate surrounding whether a fast bowler can be a captain too.

Well, that powerful knock in the 2022 IPL, he did so after returning from the three-match Pakistan Test series. Cummins could scalp one or two wickets in the first two Tests, which ended in draws. In the decider match, he proved menacing at the Karachi pitch, scalping five wickets in the first innings and three in the second, helping his team to win the series 1-0. This only proves how Cummins is a threat on subcontinental pitches too, notwithstanding their being supremely beneficial to the spinners.

Then in their last victory in India during the 2004 series, the Aussies had three pacers and a spinner. Jason Gillespie scalped 20, while Glenn McGrath bagged 14. Cummins also suggested keeping three pacers and one spinner (Nathan Lyon).

“I wouldn’t say [two spinners is] a given,” he told ESPNCricinfo. “Obviously it’s very condition-depended, particularly in the first Test. Once we get to Nagpur, we will see. But yeah, I think sometimes talking about a couple of spinners, you forget how good a lot of our fast bowlers have been in all formats.”

Cummins also cited the third Boxing Day match against South Africa at the SCG; he called the pitch slow. Australia had won the series but in that third Test, the pacers scalped the most, Josh Hazlewood got four, while Cummins picked up three. All these only show how Cummins can prove a danger to the Indian batting line-up despite the spin-friendly tracks.

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