IPL 2022: Bowler, leader, finisher, there is a Pat Cummins for every situation

Australia’s Test captain a rare athlete who can easily adjust between the longest and shortest formats

This is how life has panned out for Pat Cummins over the past six months: elevated to Australia’s Test captaincy in the wake of Tim Paine’s resignation, missed the next Test after being deemed a Covid-19 close contact, came back to lead the side to a thumping 4-0 home Ashes win, stood up for his mates while copping bad press and a wave of backlash from former players accusing him of orchestrating Justin Langer’s resignation as coach, conjured reverse swing on lifeless pitches to navigate Australia to a last-hour series win in Pakistan, spent three days in quarantine upon reaching Mumbai and then blasted his way to the joint-fastest fifty in IPL history.

Pat Cummins and Venkatesh Iyer of Kolkata Knight Riders greet each other after beating Mumbai Indians (PTI)

It takes a lot to stun Rohit Sharma in the IPL but this knock—comprising 1, 6, 4, dot, dot, 6, 4, 1, 6, 4, 6, 6, 2nb, 4, 6—was so numbing that even KKR captain Shreyas Iyer couldn’t shake it off at first. “Because yesterday in the nets,” Shreyas shared right after the match, “he was getting bowled now and then; I was batting in the nets beside him.” No strategy can explain an innings of this intensity because, honestly, where was the need for it? KKR required 35 from 30 balls and Venkatesh Iyer was playing the anchor role. All Cummins needed to do was stay put. But he finished the game in one over. Or as Shreyas said, “Before we could even execute the plan, Pat just finished it.”

KKR vs MI match report: Cummins takes IPL by storm, belts 14-ball fifty to power KKR win

Any amount of incredulousness still attached to this innings probably stems from the fact that Cummins isn’t a recognised allrounder. But perhaps that’s what frees him from expectation. There may not be an encore and the world would still be okay with it. So as long as Cummins was in it, he wasn’t going to betray his senses. “The plan was mainly for me to be the shot player,” Cummins said later. “Venky was batting well and I wanted to get a couple away to make his job a little easy. I knew they would try and bowl outside off so I wanted to get across and target the short boundaries specifically.”

Having conceding 23 in the last over of Mumbai Indians’ innings just over an hour back, Cummins knew exactly what he was in for. First up was the best slog-over bowler in the world. Although you need a fair amount of luck when you are up against Jasprit Bumrah, you don’t go far without pluck. Cummins displayed that in plenty. “When I come in to bat, it's the end of the game so for Bumrah it’s about death bowling, which means I’ve got pretty clear thinking that I want to clear the ropes. Whenever I am facing him, I am just trying to hit it as hard as I can. Fortunately, it's come off a few times.”

Fortune definitely played no part in the shellacking Daniel Sams received in the next over. Beyond the brutality of the shots and the devastating absoluteness of a third consecutive loss for Mumbai Indians lie the clarity of mind that pursues a boundary every ball. “I am at my best when I am not thinking much,” Cummins again underplayed his ability to approach every ball with clarity. But if the past six months has taught us anything, it’s that Cummins knows which battles to pick.

Like the time he knew he had to speak up for his mates. Earlier this year, as dust settled on Langer’s future as coach—a thoroughly messy affair involving allegations, rants, rumours and prolonged periods of mysterious silence on the part of the administration—Cummins finally read out a statement. “To all past players, I want to say this: Just as you have always stuck up for your mates, I'm sticking up for mine.” Like with the bat on Wednesday, Cummins didn’t beat around the bush then. To stand up to the golden generation of Australian cricket, incurring the wrath of Mitchell Johnson who called him ‘gutless’, or Matthew Hayden who felt the reasons to dismiss Langer was ‘garbage’ can be difficult. Add to that the still-fresh scar of Sandpapergate, a near-scandal Paine made Australian cricket relive and the knowledge that they were yet to do something meaningful outside home—particularly in Asia—must have made the task doubly onerous. But Cummins did what he had to do.

Like in Pakistan, where confronted with PCB-orchestrated dead pitches in Rawalpindi, Karachi and Lahore, Cummins waited for the right moment. A blink of a chance popped in Karachi when Pakistan were bowled out for 148 in response to Australia’s 556/9d but Cummins didn’t enforce the follow-on. Next Test, on a slightly better pitch, he scythed through Pakistan’s batting in the first innings with a five-wicket haul, taking another three in the second to wrest a fine win. These are milestone moments as a player, more so when you are a fast bowler, captain and de-facto ambassador of a nation trying to normalise the concept of touring Pakistan after staying away for 24 years.

And when the same person—sort of a format specialist, mind you (he last played an ODI in 2020 though Cummins continues to play T20Is)—scores 35 in a single over in the IPL, you are forced to sit up and take notice. You realise Cummins is a rare gifted athlete acutely aware of his responsibilities but also not willing to get overwhelmed by it. Leader and strike bowler of a Test team, fast bowler in a T20I setup and near-allrounder in another—he moulds himself effortlessly to cater to every task.