After a hard-fought fifth Test victory over India to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a 3-1 margin, the post-series press conference with Pat Cummins, wearing a weary grin under a pink brim, began with a juicy full toss of a question: “As a captain,” the journalist asked, “do you feel you have completed cricket now?”
It was in some ways justified. Having become the first Australia Test captain since Mark Taylor on the 1997 Ashes campaign to turn a 0-1 deficit into a five-Test series triumph, Cummins’ side now hold the trophies in every one of their bilateral Test series. They also won the 2023 ODI World Cup in India and will defend their World Test Championship mace against South Africa in the final at Lord’s in June.
