The Pat Cummins Threat for India, In India

Pat Cummins is known for his tireless, indefatigable and relentless attack on batters. His knack of coming at batters endlessly, is well known, especially for Indians, who had to face the best of him in the last three Border Gavaskar Trophies. Pace bowling in India is a different challenge though. With the pitches lot more conducive for spin, Pat Cummins will have to keep in mind that his relentlessness still holds a place in the series.

He knows how to bowl on the flattest of pitches, finding success even on the flat tracks in Pakistan. An aspect of Pat Cummins that makes him special is his regularity. He has played 46 of Australia’s last 50 Tests, highlighting his fitness. This was not always the case though. Having made his debut in 2011, Pat Cummins waited for six years to play his next Test. His second Test though turned out to be a significant one.

Coming off a long gap, Pat Cummins went up against India at Ranchi, with Cheteshwar Pujara absolutely grinding the Australian bowlers. In his comeback innings, he went through the worst innings a pacer could ask for on comeback. He bowled 39 overs as Pujara completely grinded Australia down. He took four wickets and the innings turned out to say a lot about his future.

For starters, with 39 overs bowled, Pat Cummins understood that he can handle a long workload, and his body is finally ready for Test Cricket. With four wickets, Pat Cummins also understood that he has what it takes to bowl in India.

Six years after that Test, he is back with a lot more experience and as Australia’s Test captain. He knows what the challenges are like in India. With a lot of importance given to spin, Pat Cummins has stated that he will keep in mind the skills of his pace bowlers. Pace bowling in India generally does have a say. James Anderson in 2012 proved to be a key difference as stated by MS Dhoni. In 2021 too, James Anderson was clinical in extracting reverse swing, uprooting stumps at will.

As a pacer there is some grind to go through, but Pat Cummins knows that there is reward too. As the ball gets older, and the pitch wears out, he knows there will be reverse swing to extract. With pace and skill on his side, Cummins knows that he along with Starc and Hazlewood can make a huge difference with the reverse swing on offer. He has threatened to run through India in the past with his Ranchi four-for, on a flat track, and he knows what his pace can do.

The Indians too know what he can do. On India’s last two tours to Australia, Pat Cummins was the one who consistently put pressure on them. He made it a habit of dismissing Pujara, who is known to irritate the Australian bowlers. Now, playing in India, with conditions more favorable to Pujara, Cummins will have to do the ugly work yet again.

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Previous history though will encourage him. During Australia’s last series win in India, back in 2004, pacers Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath were the ones doing the damage. They took 34 wickets together leading Australia to believe that pace is a strong option. Even during the recent home summer, Australia had some really dry tracks.

In Sydney, the ball was turning quite a bit. Pat Cummins though remained the pick of the bowlers as he tirelessly took out his victims. Given he is a fast bowling captain, he will look to back his pacers, and has also mentioned that he is willing to stick with three pacer regardless of the conditions. With all three of their options really talented, and with different abilities to complement each other, Pat Cummins and his team could spring some really interesting surprises in the coming days.