Australia broke Indian hearts in the World Test Championship final and ODI World Cup final last year, and now he is one step away from winning T20 cricket’s biggest franchise event – the IPL.It was only MS Dhoni who had an ODI World Cup and an IPL title (in 2011) under his belt as captain at the same time, and Cummins knows he can do one better with Sunrisers Hyderabad.
“Yes, it’s been a great couple of years. But I haven’t done much T20 captaincy before this, having captained in ODIs helped though,” a relaxed Cummins said, taking his eyes off Dhoni as a re-run of a CSK game was being played on a screen inside the press-room.
There’s an understated nature about his captaincy, even though you can see that he is an astute reader of the game. The Indian team got a feel of his tactical acumen in Ahmedabad last Nov and that’s probably one of the reasons the SRH management punted on him, picking Cummins up for Rs 20.5 crore from the auctions.
“He is a very practical guy, very humble. He is empathetic towards his teammates and coaching staff. And he keeps it simple, our team meeting today (Friday) went on for like 35 seconds,” SRH assistant coach Simon Helmot said after the team’s win against Rajasthan Royals in the second qualifier.
In this day and age, some of the captains are absolutely obsessed with data analysis, but Cummins is probably a little old school in this regard, even though he isn’t closed to new-age technology.
“I think data analytics play a role but it can take you so far, a captain probably needs to be intuitive. It’s actually a balance of information you gather from objective data and your own intuition,” Cummins said, analysis his methods of captaincy.
It’s interesting that only three foreign captains have won the IPL – Shane Warne (2008), Adam Gilchrist (2009) and David Warner (2016). It’s not always easy for foreigners to understand how it works for Indian rookies, but Cummins, who isn’t an IPL regular, seems to have taken to it like a duck to water.
“There’s a lot of pressure on the Indian guys in the IPL. So, instead of trying to change how they play, it’s better to keep them encouraging and see how it works. And when the tough moments come, it is about rallying around each other,” said Cummins.
It’s this simplicity in his approach that has taken his team so far and one more win on Sunday will ensure that Cummins holds an exclusive place in Indian cricket history.