Photo: Collected
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have long been familiar faces of India’s batting line-up. They have always tried to give their best to dominate opposition bowlers and bring the team success. The relationship between the two is also quite friendly.
However, leaving out these two, Pat Cummins has picked former batter Cheteshwar Pujara as the toughest opponent he has played against from India. In a conversation with ‘Prime Video Sport AUNZ’, the Australian captain named his toughest opponents against the seven major cricket-playing nations.
Cummins is now on a planned break from international cricket and is not playing in Australia’s ongoing three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe. Mitchell Marsh is leading the team in his absence. Meanwhile, Cummins is preparing for Australia’s upcoming multi-format tour of South Africa.
Praising Pujara’s patience and skill in handling pressure, Cummins said India’s former number three batter very rarely gave bowlers a chance to get him out. In his words, ‘In India’s case I will name Pujara. It is really hard to get him out. It is rather like “death by a thousand cuts”. If he wants, he can effortlessly play out 100 dot balls. He will not give you any chance at all.’
Pujara was one of the biggest challenges for Australia during India’s Test series wins in the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons. In the 2018-19 series he was named ‘Player of the Series’ after scoring 521 runs (including three centuries) in seven innings at an average of 74.42.
Although Pujara has been successful against Australia overall, Cummins’ personal record against the right-handed batter is quite good. The Australian pacer has dismissed Pujara eight times in Tests.
Cummins also named his tough opponents against the remaining six major cricket-playing nations. From England he picked former captain Alastair Cook, who ended his career with 12,472 runs (including 33 centuries) in 161 Tests at an average of 45.35.
From Pakistan, Cummins’ choice is former off-spinner Saeed Ajmal. Recalling the memory of being completely bamboozled by an Ajmal delivery in one match, he described the Pakistani spinner as a unique challenge. Cummins said, ‘Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal. A situation like the last ball of the over; I came to the crease, Ajmal bowled and I thought – what happened? Clean bowled! I had never seen anything like it before.’
From South Africa and West Indies, Cummins has picked AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle respectively, who were his teammates at Royal Challengers Bengaluru. De Villiers has scored more than 20,000 runs in international cricket, while Gayle’s tally is 19,593 runs and 42 international centuries.
Also on the list are former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum and Sri Lankan all-rounder Tillakaratne Dilshan. McCullum’s international runs across all formats are 14,676; Dilshan ended his career with 17,671 runs and 39 centuries.
Cummins is due to rejoin the team in South Africa next week. He will take over the leadership again in the ‘white-ball’ (limited-overs) matches against the Proteas, but he does not plan to play all the limited-overs matches of the tour.
He will use the limited-overs matches to build up his bowling workload and match fitness ahead of the Test series. The tough three-match Test series against the Proteas is the main priority for Australia.
