Pat Cummins shifts focus to World Test Championship final after IPL setback

“It would be incredible to retain the trophies once more. We've had a fantastic couple of years in Test cricket as a team, and lifting that trophy again would be a fitting reward. The motivation is definitely high,” said Cummins during an interaction on the sidelines of a promotional event for Carrera Eyewear, part of the global eyewear giant Safilo Group, on Wednesday.

Hyderabad: The bigger picture for Pat Cummins, captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad and Australia, is now the World Test championship final against South Africa next month in England (June 11 to 15).

“It would be awesome to hold on to the trophies again. It’s been a great two years of Test cricket for our team. And, I think holding that trophy would be a great reward. So ,we’re really motivated,” Cummins said in an interaction on the sidelines of a promotional event for Carrera Eyewear, part of Safilo Group, a global player in the eyewear industry, here on Wednesday.

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“I am thrilled to partner with Carrera, a brand that shares my passion for excellence” Cummins said. “After a successful year as the brand’s ambassador, I am really proud to have my own Carrera|Pat Cummins Collection,” he said with a big smile before starting off the interaction.

“Can’t wait to get over there in a couple of weeks. I think we have the experience. You know, all our guys have played quite a bit in England, played a lot of Test cricket.

So, you know, just about everyone in that team will have a long career kind of to look back on and draw experience from,” Cummins explained on the World Test Championship final.

“We’ve already kind of started bowling a bit more in kind of the nets. So, when we go to training, I’ll start bowling just a few more overs to get ready for Test cricket. But, we’ve got about a week’s preparation in London ,” he said.

On Sunrisers being eliminated from the play-offs race in the ongoing IPL, Cummins said that they had just not kind of clicked really on the ‘home’ surfaces in this IPL and that the batting hadn’t quite got
that many runs as they hoped for.

“Well, there have been other games where the bowling has given away too many runs for the batters. So, the margins in T-20 are really small and we just haven’t nailed it,” Cummins said

“The pitches have been a bit different this year, a couple of really good wickets and some probably that haven’t been quite traditional to Uppal but it’s fine,” Cummins said. “I mean both teams you got to play
on the same wicket, so no excuses,” he added.

“We haven’t had too many changes because we think we’ve got a great squad of players. The positives are Aniket, who reinvented himself, Zeeshan. Harshal (Patel) is a great addition. These guys have been
amazing,” Cummins said.

On Mohammed Shami, who had a forgetful season so far for SRH, Cummins felt that T-20 bowling would be the hardest job in the world. “You should remember that the ball’s not swinging or seaming. So, obviously it hasn’t gone well as Shami would have liked but he is such a good
bowler,” the SRH captain said.

“Dan (Daniel Vettori) and I always talk about assessing each game, absolutely the right methods to go really hard and try and get 250,” Cummins said.

On openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma not being as consistent as SRH would have hoped for, Cummins said maybe it would have been different but again you need two or three guys to click in a game to win matches.

On his own experience in T-20 format, Cummins said he was a bit more experienced now and knowing the venues.

“I haven’t really played any other franchise career for a while. In IPL, you’ve got packed crowds, high-scoring. It’s quite different to any other franchise league with a lot of fun,” he said.

“Honestly, I am not surprised at the amazing talent emerging in the IPL like a 14-year-old or a 17-year-old taking on worldclass bowlers (Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre),” Cummins signed off.