Pat Cummins proves to be a quick learner with Delhi Daredevils in IPL 2017

Pat Cummins has conceded less than 30 runs and picked wickets at important junctures in each of the three games he has played so far in the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL)

Young Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins seemed to feel at home, sitting alongside his Delhi Daredevils skipper Zaheer Khan at the Feroz Shah Kotla. To his right was another young tearaway from South Africa, Kagiso Rabada. (FULL IPL 2017 COVERAGE)

Delhi Daredevils pacer Pat Cummins celebrates with teammates the wicket of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Mandeep Singh during their 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. (PTI)

They had both been inducted into the Daredevils squad this year, and initially it had appeared that a problem of plenty might affect Cummins’ chances of playing.

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Rabada has been a proven performer at the international level and it looked the South African might get to pair with Chris Morris, but it was the 23-year-old Cummins who got the IPL cap ahead of the Proteas quick bowler.

A major reason could be his terrific bowling in the Dharamsala Test, after being recalled into the Australia side after a six-year gap due to prolonged injury.

Finding IPL rhythm

In all the three games he has played so far in the IPL, Cummins has conceded less than 30 and picked wickets at important junctures. Although he once said IPL was an opportunity to learn variations and slower ones, Cummins has stuck to his strength of hitting the deck, and surprising batsmen with express pace. Three out of his five wickets have come off short-pitched deliveries, bowled at over 145kph.

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“Cummins has learnt a lot on how to bowl on Indian wickets and what length he should hit during the Test series. He is very keen to prove he is a great bowler in T20. We also have to be grateful to Zaheer for his perfect field placements and bowling changes that keep the opposition under pressure,” says Daredevils bowling mentor TA Sekar.

The former India pace bowler and specialist coach of new ball bowlers says Cummins doesn’t have to add a lot of variations as of now.

Sticking to basics

“During the tournament he cannot try new things. I strongly feel what he is comfortable with, he should bowl like that. He can bowl 145 plus, has a good bouncer, yorker and can reverse the ball. The ball with which he got Mohit Sharma (versus KXIP on Saturday) was really in-dipping and hit the stumps. If he bowls a great yorker after a quick bouncer, I am sure KKR batsmen are going to be in trouble.”

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Cummins also adds value by bowling few boundary balls. So far he has conceded just 28 runs in fours. Sekar says it is because of the target bowling (focus on specific areas) Cummins and Morris do at the nets.

“They do a lot of target bowling. Also, we keep Cummins and Morris as fresh as possible. We don’t push them too much in the nets and they only do target bowling,” says Sekar.