Matchup Monday #2 - 🏅Pat Cummins is the No.1 Captain

Pat Cummins is the best captain in the world. No.1.

This isn’t just coming from a place of grieving after the World Cup final and glazing him. Just have a look at what is happening to every side he captains, even the IPL.

Let’s analyse this chronologically.

Pat Cummins was appointed captain of Australia in November of 2021, with the ashes the next month.

Defeating England is no easy task, especially when it was the year of Joe Root, who was in unprecedented good form, as I am sure every cricketing fan remembers.

Australia then go to win the Ashes, 4-0, a crushing defeat. For those that are convinced it is due to how the 2021-2022 Ashes were played in Australia, in mid-2023, the trophy was retained, in England. There you go Brits.

In 2023, after the IPL, Australia then went on to defeat India in the ICC World Test Championship Final.

He cannot be faulted.

The thing with Kohli, Rohit and everyone else is they flourish in either big-match occasions or in ordinary series.

India flourishes in ordinary series.

South Africa/New Zealand flourishes in the big tournaments/games.

Then comes the ICC ODI World Cup 2023, an even bigger heartbreak for Indians compared to the 2019 Dhoni semi-finals runout.

Before this tournament, Pat Cummins only had two matches captaining experience in the ODI format.

Yet, he won the tournament.

HOW!?

It’s really about the players and the mindset.

He has said in interviews that, he doesn’t care that players such as Travis Head don’t play with a picturesque straight bat, as long as it works, it’s fine by him, a philosophy that is surprisingly not widely adopted by major boards or captains.

Even in the IPL, in the match between SRH and PBKS on 9 April, in the Punjab’s chase, it wasn’t entirely sealed for SRH that they were going to win. Shashank Singh was smashing and looking pristine, and when the cameras panned to Pat Cummins, he was smiling and laughing in awe, even in a high-pressure situation where senior captains would be maintaining a poker face.

That is the calm and composed mindset that no other captain possesses.

Yet Australia will not win the T20 World Cup. This is a fact.

When it happens, stay tuned for the full analysis.