What a remarkable year it has been for Pat Cummins. The Australia captain achieved the three most coveted accolades that a cricketer can only dream of throughout their entire career – all in the year 2023. He steered his country to its first-ever World Test Championship triumph, successfully defended the Ashes in England, and reached the pinnacle of glory by winning the World Cup, capping off a truly sensational year for himself and his team.
A day before the final, Cummins bragged about wanting to silence a crowd of 1.3 lakh people in the biggest cricket stadium in the world. And boy, did he succeed in his pursuit of doing so. As he continues to ride on the success of winning Australia a record-extending sixth World Cup, Cummins was asked to pick one particular moment from the World Cup final that he will remember during the final moments of his life. “On your deathbed, in 70 years time, what is the moment you will think of from that final?” asked the reporter. And Pat’s answer wasn’t a surprise.
“I think the Virat Kohli wicket I was obviously very pumped. And then, we’re in the huddle after that wicket, and Steve Smith says, ‘Boys, listen to the crowd for a second’. And we just took a moment of pause, and it was as quiet as a library; 100,000 Indians there, and it was so quiet. I’ll savour that moment for a long time,” Cummins said in an interview to The Age.
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Cummins finished with economical figures of 2/34, one of which was Kohli’s wicket. India were in the middle or rebuilding their innings after being 3 down for 81, but in doing so Kohli and KL Rahul simply shut shop. As the pitch behaved sluggishly, despite scoring a fifty each, both batters went into a shell, possibly hoping for Suryakumar Yadav ad Ravindra Jadeja to take flight. Kohli eventually played on to a slowish cutter from Cummins which not only ended the 67-run partnership but brought the crowd to an absolute hush.
‘We were timid at the start of the tournament’, admits Cummins
India eventually folded for 240, a total well below par. With the ball, they made early inroads, quickly picking up three Australian wickets for 47 runs before Travis Head’s century batted India out of the match. Any faint hopes India harboured of turning a sub-par total into a competitive match were dashed by the dew, significantly easing batting conditions in the second innings. To beat the home favourites, who were on rampant a 10-match winnings streak, in a World Cup final has to got to rate right up there for Cummins, more so given Australia’s first two games in the tournament had ended in defeats.
“On the one hand, yeah. And I think we were a bit timid to start the tournament. So it was a good reality check. But we are a good side and, as long as we committed to how we wanted to play, I thought we were going to give ourselves a good shot,” added Cummins.
Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
