Page 44 - The Indian EYE 011924

SPORTS JANUARY 19, 2024 | The Indian Eye 44

Pat Cummins: From championship

titles to personal demons, inspiring Aussie

skipper conquers everything

The year was definitely not the one to remember for Cummins on a personal front,

as he lost his mother Maria to breast cancer in March of last year

OUR BUREAU mongous task of beating an invincible
Team India in India during the ICC
Melbourne
Cricket World Cup final. With some
023 will be remembered as the sharp bowling, great field settings
year of skipper Pat Cummins, and a Travis Head century, Austra-
2as the silent, smiling Austra- lia repeated the heroics of the 2003
lian assassin guided the multi-time World Cup final, crushing the Men in
World Cup-winning side to numer- Blue’s incredible 10-match winning
ous memorable championship title streak to nothingness as their wait for
wins and concluded the year with a a big trophy continued.
huge win over Pakistan in the Box- Cummins took 15 wickets in the
ing Day Test, in which he also took a tournament and scored 128 import-
ten-wicket haul. ant runs in eight innings.
The year was definitely not the
one to remember for Cummins on a Securing a Rs 20.50 crores Indian
personal front, as he lost his moth- Premier League (IPL) deal with SRH
er Maria to breast cancer in March In the IPL auctions recently
of last year. But in what has been held in Dubai, Pat Cummins se-
an inspiring story filled with pas- cured a Rs 20.50 crore deal with
sion for the sport and country, resil- Sunrisers Hyderabad, becoming
ience, tonnes of mental and physi- the most expensive IPL player
cal strength and determination, the ever at one point before his team-
skipper led from the front and made mate Mitchell Starc beat him with
the Men in Yellow, the cricketing a Rs 24.75 crore deal with Kolkata
fraternity and most importantly, his Knight Riders (KKR).
mother, proud. Victory and ten-wicket haul at home

Here is a look at Boxing Day Test
Cummins’ 2023 at a glance: In the home Boxing Day Test
at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Retaining the Ashes as captain (MCG), Cummins took 5/48 and 5/49
Having not won the Ashes in En- in both innings to guide Australia to
gland since 2001, Australia headed to 79-run win over a fighting Pakistan
the UK with a lot of expectations and unit, winning the series 2-0 with a
pressure on their shoulders. On the game left.
other side, a reenergized England Cummins ended this year with 59
was unleashing their ‘Bazball’ ram- wickets in 24 matches, with the best
page on their opponents under the et’. The series ended in a 2-2 draw India’s wait for an ICC trophy con- bowling figures of 6/91. 42 of these
leadership of skipper Ben Stokes and and Aussies retained the Ashes. tinued. Centuries from Travis Head wickets came in Tests, while 17 came
Brendon McCullum. Cummins starred in the series and Steve Smith in the first inning in ODIs.
The first Test at Edgbaston was Cummins also delivered some
a thrilling encounter, with “ice in with 18 wickets, with the best fig- ultimately led to India chasing 444 valuable performances with the bat
runs in the fourth inning but being
ures of 6/91 and also made 162 runs
the veins” captain Cummins scoring with his bat in nine innings, worth its bundled out for just 234 runs. during the Ashes and World Cup,
a fighting 44* and stitching a 55-run weight in gold. Cummins took four wickets, scoring 422 runs in 28 innings this
stand with Nathan Lyon during a including 3/83 in the first innings, year at an average of 21.10.
tense but a successful 281-run chase. Defeating India in ICC World Test which included the scalps of skipper His 44* against England in an in-
It set the tone for a highly com- Championship final stant classic first Ashes Test and 12*
petitive, intense five-match Test se- In the finals of the ICC World Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane. in a double century stand with Glenn
ries that had everything from top Test Championship, the Aussies once Securing sixth ICC Cricket Maxwell against Afghanistan in the
performances to endless controver- again broke the hearts of Indian play- World Cup for Australia Cricket World Cup come to mind in
sies and debates on ‘Spirit of Crick- ers and millions of their followers as Captain Cummins had the hu- an instant.

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