Cummins open to Australia ODI captaincy extension, to put his name in IPL auction

Pat Cummins expressed his desire to stay on as Australia's ODI captain following the ongoing World Cup

Kolkata: Pat Cummins expressed his desire to stay on as Australia’s ODI captain following the ongoing World Cup.

Cummins, who was initially handed reins of the Test team, was made ODI skipper following the sudden retirement of Aaron Finch last year.

---

Having guided Australia to the World Cup semifinals on the back of seven straight wins after opening two losses, Cummins has made a strong case for captaincy extension.

Asked about his future as ODI captain, the 30-year-old said: “Potentially, yeah. We’ll chat about it. We’ve been pretty open, me and Andrew (head coach) and George (selector) around different times in the year you’re going to have different priorities.

“This is a bit of a one-off year where there’s three or four big off-season events. After here the focus shifts back to Test cricket for a fair while. Probably like we’ve done in the past, at times white-ball cricket is going to have to shift (as a priority) so we fully focus on Test cricket. There’s no end date in sight.

“I feel like I’ve been managed really well and looked after in a really, really busy year where you don’t really want to give up any cricket,” said the fast bowler.

Cummins to put his name in IPL auction 

Cummins, who had opted out of the IPL 2023 to focus on his international commitments, will put his name in the auction ahead of the 2024 edition.

The IPL will be played before the T20 World Cup in the United States and the Caribbean, serving as ideal preparation for the global event.

Kolkata Knight Riders had bought Cummins for Rs 7.5 crore in the 2022 IPL auction.

“I feel like I haven’t played a heap of T20 cricket and in some ways I feel like I haven’t played my best T20 cricket for a little while,” he said.

“I’m really excited, I’m probably going to go into the IPL auction for next year to try to get some games before that World Cup and push a case to not only make the side but get back to how I feel like I can bowl in T20 cricket,” he said.

Mitchell Marsh is expected to lead Australia in the T20 World Cup.