Wisden’s Men’s ODI Spells of 2023, No.3: Pat Cummins’ 2-34

Wisden’s men’s ODI Spells of 2023, No.3: Pat Cummins – 2-34 (10)

Australia vs India
World Cup final
Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, November 19

Very few of the questions Pat Cummins has had to face throughout his Australia career have been about his actual cricketing skills, and even fewer have been fair. He has been pilloried for his politics, for taking a stand when his own life would be easier if he stayed quiet. And through it all, he has continued to hit that awkward length at high pace, troubling batters the world over to carve out one of the great Australian careers.

None of that should have been in doubt before 2023, but this was the year he became unanswerable. Two world titles, an Ashes retention, and all with that million-dollar smile and easy-going humour staying in place. And yet, as the World Cup began, he found himself in unfamiliar territory, with criticism arising of a purely cricketing bent. Australia’s fortunes rested on how he responded.

Australia lost their first two World Cup games, and Cummins struggled in each. Against India, defending a small total, he was neither incisive nor containing as KL Rahul and Virat Kohli overcame Josh Hazlewood’s new-ball fire to coast home. Against South Africa, Cummins went at nearly eight an over as the Proteas crossed 300. This was a continuation of the story in a format he had never quite mastered. It was hard to point out a reason why. Given his Test success has come away from the new ball, reliant on repetition rather than significant lateral movement, basic logic would suggest the transition should be simple. Hit a hard length, roll your fingers across it and be Australia’s Liam Plunkett. It wasn’t quite working, and with Australia up against it, there were the merest rumblings that a change be made, with Sean Abbott waiting in the wings.

The smart money was that this was only a matter of time. There is little Cummins hasn’t managed to win over, and by the final he was part of a team firing in all departments again. Travis Head had revitalised the batting line-up. The three Test quicks were dovetailing, Adam Zampa was mopping up in the middle, and the all-rounders were chipping in. And on the grandest stage, their captain delivered a masterclass.

Looking back, it’s easy to forget just how extraordinary that final was. One team makes 240, the other team chases it down with relative ease. So what? And yet the first innings of that game was unlike anything that had come before it. India attacked and raced to 50 in 45 balls. This was their gameplan. Get out in front and stay out in front. Go hard, consolidate, and then go hard again. They managed the first two. But while India absorbed Australia’s applied pressure, they were unable to release it. India hit 12 boundaries inside the powerplay but just four after it. Cummins was the mastermind and the chief architect.

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There were slower balls, using the slow surface to its fullest extent. The short ball and the fuller ball posed their own problems. In his second over, the first after the powerplay, the perfect line had Shreyas Iyer nibbling behind. There was more tension. Who would blink first?

Virat Kohli opted for one of his favourite shots, that run off the face, the kind of stroke on which an era is built. This is how you average 60 and still score quickly enough. You get singles without any risk. And yet Cummins was too good, too tight. The ball bounced down and disturbed the stumps. The deafening silence of a hundred thousand hearts breaking in unison shrouded the Narendra Modi Stadium. Cummins had hoped he would have this effect. He came back at the death and ended his spell without a boundary.

The day ended with India bemused at how they had been hoodwinked, their greatest tournament and their greatest team ending with someone else lifting the trophy. Modi himself was there, and gave Cummins the trophy as he stood on his own. It was a comedic moment, but maybe, with hindsight, also a fitting one. He could be allowed a deep breath as he prepared to revel in his own high point.