World Cup triumph ‘still buzzing’, Pat Cummins ready for more success in Australian home summer
Australia captain Pat Cummins said the feeling of being the world champions hadn’t sunk in and that the smiles on the players’ faces would last forever.
Speaking to the press upon his arrival in Sydney, Cummins explained a ‘time loop’ of happy emotions after scripting history at the Cricket World Cup in India.
Pat Cummins led Australia to their 6th World Cup crown in India, as they beat the much-fancied hosts in the big final in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday, November 19. Cummins came up with an inspirational performance on the big day, leading from the front to stun India, who were on a 10-match winning run before the big final.
WORLD CUP 2023 FINAL
Australia were electric on the field from the word go after Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to field on a dry pitch in Ahmedabad. Cummins got the big wickets of Virat Kohli (54) and Shreyas Iyer (4) as India were restricted to 240 in their quota of 50 overs despite Rohit Sharma’s aggressive knock at the top. Australia rode on Travis Head’s sensational 137 to gun down the target in just 43 overs.
Australia’s ability to challenge for the World Cup crown was questioned after they lost their first two games, to India and South Africa, but the team always kept their belief intact even in a “sudden death” situation, Cummins said.
Cummins and fellow pacer Josh Hazlewood arrived at the Sydney airport on Wednesday morning and spoke to the press amid a warm reception. As many as 7 players from the World Cup-winning squad stayed back in India for the upcoming T20I series, starting November 23.
“I think we’ll be smiling for a fair while. We are still buzzing. Every half an hour so, you kind of remember that you just won a World Cup and get excited all over again,” Cummins told the press.
“You only get one chance every four years and especially playing somewhere like India, it’s hard.
“To be pitted up against the rest of the world and come away with a medal, it doesn’t get any better than that. Adding to that an away Ashes series, a World Test Championship, we couldn’t have planned for much better.”
“ “It almost became sudden death,” Cummins added, speaking of Australia’s slow start in World Cup 2023.
“The belief never left, even at the start we knew we hadn’t played our best, but we kind of knew once we clicked we could take on anyone, and that proved to be the case.”
NO TIME FOR REST
There is no time for rest for Australia cricketers as the 5-match T20I series in India will get underway just 4 days after the World Cup Final.
While the likes of Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith among others are gearing up for the T20i series in India, Pat Cummins said he will be back on the field soon to begin preparation for the home summer, which begins with a 3-Test series against a visiting Pakistan side in December-January.
“The home summer is always huge, so we’ve got a couple of weeks to regroup and get together in Perth. The majority the ODI team is the same as the Test team, so it’ll be good to go and see everyone again in a couple of weeks,” he added.