Australia’s newly-appointed Test captain Pat Cummins has recently given the credit to the former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan for motivating him by showing that bowlers can be the captain too. He also shared how was his stint with Delhi Daredevils under Zaheer Khan in IPL 2017 as well.
However, on Friday, Cricket Australia officially announced that Pat Cummins will lead the team in the longer format and become the 47th Test captain. He will replace Tim Paine in the upcoming Ashes series as well.
Pat Cummins stated that Zaheer Khan helped him at that time and didn’t see any struggle too. And, he credited Khan for helping him with field changes as well.
“I really liked his work tactically around T20s. He was just fantastic. Just someone great to bounce bowling ideas off and it was even better that he was at the top of my mark, you know, helping me set fields and tactics. I saw pretty clearly there the benefits of it. I didn’t see too many drawbacks. It’s a different format, but I thought he was fantastic,” Pat Cummins said, as quoted by Perth Now.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to work through” – Pat Cummins
Introducing the 47th captain of the Australian men's Test team, Pat Cummins 👏 pic.twitter.com/25EAHpTh2P
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) November 26, 2021
He also opened up on Steve Smith’s appointment as his deputy, saying that he argued for it. The right-arm pace bowler showed confidence in the experienced men around him as well.
“There’s a couple of more unknowns about having a bowling captain. That’s why from the outset I was absolutely determined if I was captain to have someone like Steve as vice-captain. I feel like I’ve got quite a lot of experience to draw on. A lot of the problems or potential issues around being a fast-bowling captain, I’m sure we’ll be able to work through,” Pat Cummins concluded.
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