A fiery Pat Cummins set the international arena ablaze with his Test debut in 2011 on a juicy Wanderers pitch. A seven-wicket match haul including a six-fer in the second innings gave Australia a chaseable score which they eventually gunned down, albeit by a narrow margin. Amidst the victory celebrations, the talk was all about this exciting fast bowler who had all the weapons a pacer needed. He was impeccably complete, that too at such an early age which promised so much. Tragedy struck though, which meant that he didn't play a single Test match for about six years.

Cummins' has no real weakness in his skill set but a fragile body meant that he couldn't capitalize on the sensational debut that he had. Although he did feature in white-ball cricket during this Test hiatus, there too he wasn't a regular starter with injuries inevitably consuming him at frequent intervals. It did seem like such a powerhouse of talent would end up combusting in the flame of injuries. However, the 2016-17 season saw Cummins upping his fitness levels in a big way. After a few years of constant preparation, it seemed like the body was finally starting to be stable.

Cummins was picked for the Test tour of India in early 2017 and this was an examination for him in all aspects. The sub-continent isn't the best place for a fast bowler due to the pitches and the temperature levels. Add to that Cummins' inherent fragility and there were concerns on how he would pull up. But he put all that to rest by featuring in two Tests back to back and seemed quite hungry for more. The IPL season that year saw him play more competitive cricket and the presence of Indian pace great Zaheer Khan helped Cummins' mould himself a lot better.

Despite the progress, Cummins still had to consistently keep the good work going for putting his career on track. The Bangladesh tour saw Cummins progressing well and after proving his fitness over a long period of time, he got the nod for the all-important Ashes series at home in 2017-18. It was the ideal opportunity to make a statement and Cummins didn't let it go. He had an excellent series, often claiming crucial breakthroughs and also made invaluable contributions with the bat. Australia regained the urn and the cricketing world was convinced that Cummins was here to stay for long.

Cummins’ career just kept going from strength to strength thereafter. He was named as Australia’s Test vice-captain alongside Travis Head in early 2019 and he won the Allan Border medal the following month for his efforts over the past 12 months. He also ascended to number 1 on ICC’s Test Bowling rankings and became the first Australian bowler since Glenn McGrath to do so. He was part of the Australian squad that played the 2019 Cricket World Cup but didn’t have any notable returns. In the Ashes series that followed, however, Cummins was the standout performer. With 29 wickets in the 5 games, Cummins was the leading wicket-taker across both teams.

In a historic move, Cummins was named Australia’s full-time captain in 2021 just ahead of the Ashes series following Tim Paine’s resignation. He became the first Australian fast-bowler to take up the job full-time and Steve Smith was named his deputy. He led Australia’s successful Ashes campaign as they went on to win by a convincing 4-0 margin. Cummins also took over as Australia’s limited-overs captain following Aaron Finch’s retirement in 2022.

Cummins’ first major title win as captain was the World Test Championship in 2023. Under his leadership, Australia beat India by a massive 209-run margin at The Oval. Cummins was named as the captain of Australia’s 15-member squad for the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

Cummins was sensational in the 2023 World Cup, particularly the final where he led by example. He excelled at almost exclusively bowling slower bouncers and cutters as the Indian batters just couldn’t get him away. Cummins got the wickets of Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli in the final, as the hosts scored an under par total and Australia were able to silence over a lakh spectators to reclaim the World Cup.

Cummins continued his fine form into the Test summer, as Australia whitewashed Pakistan 3-0, but he was jolted back to reality by a Shamar Joseph inspired West Indies who upset the apple cart by defeating the Aussies at Gabba. His heroics weren’t just restricted to Test cricket, as Cummins made a mark in the 2024 T20 World Cup as well where he became the first player to pick up hat-tricks in consecutive matches.

Australian cricket’s blue eyed boy who has a penchant for clutch performances, Pat Cummins is now showing his prowess as a leader as well. He seems to have galvanized Australian cricket in the right direction once again, and only time will tell if we are heading for another decade of Aussie dominance with Pat Cummins at the helm.

IPL Through the Years
Cummins got his first taste of the IPL in 2014, when he was picked by Kolkata Knight Riders. Opportunities were few and far in the first two seasons in the IPL, as he failed to really make a mark. Cummins returned to the auctions in 2017, and this time he was picked by Delhi Capitals. He performed admirably, picking 14 wickets in 12 games but the franchise finished towards the bottom that season.

The lanky pacer then took a two year hiatus from the tournament, before becoming one of the most in demand players in 2020. He was signed for 15.5 crores by Kolkata Knight Riders and played with them for the next couple of seasons. Cummins performed decently with the ball without really setting the world on fire, while one of his finest moments for KKR actually came with bat in hand - when he scored a 14 ball fifty against Mumbai Indians.

In 2023, shortly after the ODI World Cup triumph, Cummins once again was the most talked about player heading into the auctions. He was signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad for 20.5 crores, which made him the second most expensive player for that season. He was named captain and took his franchise to the final, playing a refreshingly attacking brand of cricket. Cummins was retained by SRH ahead of the mega auctions.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan and Anurag Hegde