The red-ball captain of the Australian side, Pat Cummins, didn’t look in good rhythm and sharp during the opening Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 at the Optus Stadium in Perth where they faced a huge 295-run defeat against the Jasprit Bumrah-led Indian side. That raised immense pressure on the veteran.
But Pat Cummins has displayed his old version of aggression in the longest format again. The field placement during India’s batting in both innings was brilliant, while he increased the pace a little bit, making life hard for the batters. The right-arm pacer enjoyed a five-wicket haul in the second innings. That was his 13th red-ball five-wicket haul.
When the touring side engaged in a 201-run opening stand between KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal during the second innings of the opening Test, it felt like the Australian captain was waiting for things to come their way. A few reports also claimed a few broken blokes in the home dressing room.
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The second Test was very important for Australia, keeping in mind the scenario of the World Test Championship 2023-25 final for Lords in June next year. The 10-wicket victory put the Pat Cummins-led side at the top of the table for a few hours before South Africa replaced them with their 2-0 series victory against Sri Lanka at home.
“Pat Cummins was more aggressive in his celebration”- Adam Gilchrist
However, at the end of the previous encounter, the former wicket-keeper batter of Australia, Adam Gilchrist, was in awe of the spell of the New South Wales bowler, saying that the latter was terrific to watch. The renowned commentator also highlighted how the fast bowler looked more aggressive in his celebration.
“Pat Cummins was outstanding, he looked like if there needed a bit of a grease and oil change after Perth and a tune-up, he was purring by the end of it, so that was terrific to watch. You could see just through his celebrations that every wicket that he took, he was more aggressive in his celebration.” The former wicket-keeper for Western Australia claimed as quoted by Fox Cricket.
One of the outstanding qualities of the leader is how he stands beside his teammates in tough times. Whether it’s the time when their former head coach Justin Langer was taken down from his position and the former players drilled the current players of the national side for their behavior, or when the entire England crowd mocked Alex Carey for running out Jonny Bairstow during the Lord’s Ashes Test last year, Pat Cummins always got behind the side.
The pressure was incredibly huge on some of the individual players. A few asked to drop their number three, Marnus Labuschagne, who had just one 90 during the second Test in New Zealand at the start of the year, while voices were raised over Nathan McSweeney and whether he is capable of the stage.
Gilchrist painted out that the players of the home side looked stung by the criticism they faced after the humiliating loss in Perth, and that worked for them to turn things around.
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“Not in that lose control extent, but you could just see that they’d been stung by a bit of criticism around, after their performance, and they internally would have been so disappointed with the way they played in Perth. So it showed you what it meant to them, and they knew that they were back at the level they want to play their cricket.” The left-handed batter concluded.
Pat Cummins will be well aware of India’s previous Test assignment at the Gabba, besides the record of them losing the last red-ball game at the venue against West Indies.