Reasons which make Pat Cummins one of the best all-rounder in the world
Australia’s current Test and ODI team captain, Pat Cummins has emerged as one of the best all-rounder in the world in the last few years. He has done everything a successful cricketer could do in his career in the last few years. In today’s time, when we talk about some of the best all-rounders in the world, we talk about Ben Stokes from England, Ravindra Jadeja from India, Shakib al Hasan from Bangladesh, etc. But Pat Cummins has been right up there on the list.
An all-rounder Pat Cummins brings the right balance to the team which eventually helps the team to win matches and trophies. Every team looks for match-winning all-rounders in their team. A definition of an all-rounder is not that who can do batting and bowling both. But the one who makes good decisions on the field, making efforts on the field, stands tall on big occasions, etc. Pat Cummins, has surely fallen in that category, and look at how he evolved in the last few years. Today, we will talk about those factors that made Pat Cummins one of the best all-rounders in world cricket. So let’s dive into it quickly.
↻ KKR announced Shreyas Iyer as captain for the IPL 2024
The reasons why Pat Cummins is one of the best all-rounders
1. Bowling prowess in all forms of the game
One of the major roles of Pat Cummins is to bowl the opposition out and win games for his team. His numbers are great when it comes to bowling. In test cricket, he is one of the best bowlers in world cricket right now. He knows how to bowl with the new ball, keep moving the ball both ways, and unsettle the batters. We have seen him getting the wickets of big players of this era like Joe Root, Virat Kohli, etc.
Cummins has the pace and he can bowl a spell of quick bouncers if there is no assistance from the pitch. Also, if the pitch is not favorable, he can bowl with a good line and length consistently and extract something out of the pitch.
Not just the conventional swing, Pat Cummins is a very good exponent of reverse swing. If the wicket is dry and slow, he can do wonders with the reverse swing.
Not to forget his white ball numbers
Not just in test cricket, he is very good in white ball cricket. He bowls a testing spell with the new ball and can bowl in the middle overs as a wicket-taker. He breaks those partnerships and brings the momentum back.
Although the numbers in the death overs are not brilliant, it is not bad either. He has done well off late in the death overs with his pace variations. He didn’t rely much on Yorkers and bowls that ball sometimes, but he can be effective in the death overs as we saw in a few instances. Apart from a few things, he has everything as a bowler.
2. Batting brilliance makes him a valuable asset in the team
Not just with the ball, he has done well with the bat as well. just imagine a bowling all-rounder who can win you games with the bat as well. It’s a big plus point for any team.
Pat Cummins can bat brilliantly too. Not only batting deep, he can hit the long ball as well. We saw glimpses of his hitting in an Indian Premier League IPL game against Mumbai Indians where he took off one of the best bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah, and played a quick-fire knock.
With the bat, he played a crucial knock of 44 not out on the Ashes and how can we forget that inning against Afghanistan where Glenn Maxwell played a blinder on one leg and Pat Cummins held the other end to support him?
3. Leadership quality
An all-rounder is not just a player who can bat and bowl. Apart from those two roles, Pat Cummins has the responsibility of Australia’s captaincy as well. He has done well in his captaincy stint now and won the titles for the team. As captain, he won the ICC WTC 2023, an ICC ODI World Cup 2023, and retained the Ashes in the same year as well.
4. Leading from the front
As we were talking, Pat Cummins loves to take the fight and lead from the front. He has played a huge role in some of the famous wins for Australia in the last few years. If we talk about that knock against England in the Ashes, Australia was chasing a target of 280+. He won that game for Australia with the bat when all the top-order batters got out.
In the ODI WC 2023, he bowled an outstaying spell in the semi-final and the final to win the title for Australia. These are a few examples of how Pat Cummins led from the front.
5. Nerves of steel in big games
His innings against Afghanistan, against England in the Ashes, in the ODI WC semifinal against South Africa, etc are examples that how he settles his nerves on big stages. With the ball, he bowled well in the semifinal and the final of the ODI WC and eventually won the title.
6. Winning the titles
A player is judged on how many titles he has won for the team. We have just told you the titles he has won recently. Not to forget he was an ICC T20I WC champion in 2021 as a player as well.
7. Efforts in the field and decision-making
He makes an effort in the fielding, setting the fields as captain, taking some bold decisions like sending Mitchell Starc up in the batting order, etc. In one instance, he was seen taking a picture of a pitch before the game as well. Reading the pitch is an important aspect of the team.
So these are a few factors which made Pat Cummins one of the best all-rounders in the world. Thank you for reading. Keep following us for the latest updates.
