NEW DELHI: Pat Cummins, the captain of the Australian ODI team, feels that his ability to remain composed while leading a team is an innate trait.
In the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, Cummins also captained the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and achieved remarkable success, guiding his team to the finals, where they were defeated by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on May 26.
Under Cummins' leadership, the Orange Army transformed their fortunes, rising from the lower half of the standings to play an aggressive brand of cricket, spearheaded by the captain himself and openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma.
Reflecting on his personal growth, Cummins stated, the more he has played cricket, the more he has 'mellowed' with such qualities. He also emphasised that currently, his primary focus is on his individual performance on the field.
"I think to some degree I was born with it. I have always kind of had this 'shall be right' kind of attitude. The more I have played, the more I have mellowed a little bit in terms of not being as fiery, and you just want to concentrate on how to get the job done. As a young bowler I wanted to puff the chest out and really get into the opposition. Nowadays I'm a bit more concentrating on my own game, and as captain, trying to navigate as calmly as possible our team to, hopefully, a victory. Maybe it is experience, maybe it is [that] I try and talk about calmness a lot, so if I'm captain and I'm not calm, well, I'll lose a bit of credibility with my team-mates," Cummins was quoted by ESPNcricinfo's The Cricket Monthly as saying.
"Look, I think so. On balance, when you are making so many decisions all the time, a level of calmness and consistency probably outweighs someone who's erratic, I would say," he added.
(With ANI inputs)
