Image Credit- Getty
The sculptures of Dennis Lillee and Shane Warne, two
of Australian cricket’s finest bowlers ever, stand proudly outside the MCG,
Australia’s sporting mecca. One day, they may add one more statue, possibly of
Pat Cummins. It would be difficult to refute.
In a year where he has already guided his country to a
World Test Championship triumph, an away Ashes retention, and an ODI World Cup,
Cummins’ 10 for 97 to lead his side to another Test success at the MCG is
worthy of a comparable accolade, if Scott Boland’s 6 for 7 on debut is.
Alongside Allan Border, Cummins became the second
Australian skipper to take ten wickets in a Test match on Friday. He became one
of just ten Australians to reach 250 Test wickets, along with Warne and Lillee.
Cummins has the second-highest average of the ten (behind Glenn McGrath’s
21.64), but he has the best strike rate (46.70). He’s in a unique place. When
he noticed the list of ten names show up on the scoreboard, he had to pinch
himself.
Considering that he was injured and missed five and a
half years of Test cricket between his first Test in November 2011 and his
second in March 2017, his accomplishments are incomprehensible. It’s
unbelievable what he’s accomplished thus far, especially in this year alone.
The greatest danger to his legacy is the monotony of his outstanding
performances in pivotal situations. People simply think that he will enter the
game and win it for his nation by bowling, and he always does.
It was the same with this Boxing Day Test. With
Pakistan 124 for 1 and looking to build a crucial first-innings advantage on
the second day of the match, Cummins changed the course of play with a
spectacular return catch to remove Abdullah Shafique and a sublime delivery to
get Babar Azam.
He rose to the occasion once more in the second
innings. While chasing 317 for victory, Pakistan had gotten off to a
respectable start, reaching 49 for 1 after 14 overs. After circumnavigating the
wicket to Imam-ul-Haq, Cummins struck a ball onto his front pad. Michael Gough,
the umpire, called it not out. Cummins could not be stopped. After two balls,
he charged in again and, this time with Gough raising his finger, nipped back
in at the stumps, smashing Imam on the front knee with something that looked like
an Exocet rocket.
Agha Salman and Muhammad Rizwan were threatening to do
the impossibly difficult. With five wickets remaining, their 57-run partnership
had brought Pakistan to within 98 runs of a historic triumph. It seemed as
though the nip and swing that had been constant throughout the match had
vanished. Lyon had created two half-chances that were not converted, but they
had been unable to control the run rate.
Cummins pulled himself together once more. This time
he unleashed his inner vicious nature, which lies beneath his well-mannered
Clark Kent persona, and set a pitch for short-pitched bowling. Rizwan was
forced to dive under a vicious bouncer, jump over a back-of-a-length ball, and
then lose sight of one and duck under a length ball that flicked his right
wristband as it went through to Alex Carey.
He’s a man for all conditions and all occasions. When
it’s seaming, he is a nightmare, nipping them in and out, and threatening both
edges. When it’s flat, he draws his length back and threatens gloves, rib cages
and jugulars. He does it with a smile and a sense of calm that permeates
through the whole Australian team.
A bronze statue or not, 2023 is the year Pat Cummins
cemented his legacy.