Following his side’s six-wicket win over India in the
final of ICC Cricket World Cup final, Australian skipper Pat Cummins said he
fell in love with the one-day format all over again with this World Cup and
described the win as a “pinnacle of international cricket”.
Cummins said, “That is huge, I think that’s the
pinnacle of international cricket, winning a one-day World Cup. Especially over
here in India, in front of a crowd like this. Yeah, that is huge. Yeah, it has
been a big year for everyone, but our cricket team has been here in India, the
Ashes, World Test Championship and top it off with this is just huge and these
are the moments that you will remember for the rest of your life.”
“Maybe because we won, but I did fall in love with ODI
again this World Cup. I think the scenario where every game really matters, it
does mean a bit different to just a bilateral. The World Cup’s got such rich
history, I am sure it is going to be around for a long time. Yeah, there are so
many wonderful games, so many wonderful stories within these last couple of
months. So, I think there’s definitely a place (for ODI cricket),” he added.
Cummins admitted, “Yeah, I mean I always like to say I
am pretty relaxed but I was a little bit nervous this morning you know just
pacing around waiting for it to get started just seeing the sea of blue in the
hotel getting nearer the ground and seeing the sea of blue, walking, making its
way to the ground, all the cars parked with their selfie cameras out, you kind
of knew you were walking into something pretty special.
And then to walk out for the toss and just see 1,30,000
blue Indian shirts, it is an experience you will never forget. Awesome day and
the good thing was they were not too noisy for most of it.”
Cummins said, “The pitch played pretty well actually,
it was quite slow and basically no bounce, but I do not think the bounce was
anything different to anywhere else in the tournament. It probably did not spin
as much as I thought it would. Yesterday it looked really dry, but it was quite
firm today. Yeah, the wicket was fine really.
And then the toss… but I thought you know half a
chance of the wicket got better tonight and you know in a World Cup game you
can make a mistake bowling and it does not really matter too much, but if you
make a mistake batting and you are under pressure it can be fatal so I just
felt like it was the right time to go out and have a bowl.”
Lauding Travis Head for his match-winning century, Cummins
said, “Travis Head was phenomenal. I think I said it on stage, I mean I think a
lot of credit should also go to Andrew McDonald and George Bailey, the
selectors, to take a punt. He had a broken finger, a broken hand for the half
of the tournament, but to keep him in the squad was a huge risk. And the
medical team were fantastic, obviously, to get him into a place where he could
perform. So that was a big risk.
I think we could have been made to look really silly
if that did not pay off, but you got to take those risks to win a tournament.
And Trav, the player we have seen in Test cricket, he just, he epitomized
everything I want out of a cricket team. He takes the game on, he plays with a
smile, he just puts the pressure right back onto the opposition and he’s just
great fun to be around. So, I couldn’t be happier for Trav.”
On Virat’s wicket that he took, Cummins said, “Yeah, I
think so, yeah. Yeah, we did take a second in the huddle just to acknowledge
the silence that was going around the crowd. Yeah, it just felt like it was one
of those days where it was all made for him to score another hundred like he
normally does and yeah that was satisfying.”
The skipper said that playing white-ball cricket in
India helped Australia a lot.
“I mean, in white ball cricket, you still do not get
spinning wickets all that often, particularly in IPL. But for sure, it helps. I
think I have said it a few times. Pretty much everyone in our eleven has
probably played more white ball cricket in India in the last five or ten years
than we have in Australia so – no doubt that helps,” he said.
Cummins said he could not be prouder of his team’s
performance over the last two years, which has seen them win the T20 World Cup
title and World Test Championship too.
“Yeah, couldn’t be prouder of the team for the last
few years. We have had some tough series but we’ve won some amazing series as
well and everyone stood up and we feel like we’ve got a great red ball team and
the white ball team has won two trophies in the last few years so it’s, yeah,
things are looking pretty rosy,” he added.
ANI
