The Australian Skipper Pat Cummins remembers Travis Head’s call-up for the World Cup team despite the injury he sustained during the ODI match against South Africa.
Cummins recalls moments on including Head in WC squad
Australia won the finals of the World Cup 2023 against at Narendra Modi Stadium and claimed their sixth World Cup title. Australia had a great cricketing year as they won the World Test Championship and Ashes 2023. On adding this World Cup trophy, Australia’s cricket journey this year would be a quite memorable one.
Winning the toss Australia chose to bowl where they folded the Men in Blues for 240 runs. Australia chased the target by the end of 43 overs and won the match by 6 wickets.
While speaking at the post-match conference, Cummins said, “I think the unheralded few (are) the selectors that backed him even when he had a broken hand. And the medical team to get him back, there was a big risk we took and it paid off. You couldn’t be happier for Travis, he’s a legend and we love him how fun is he to watch?” said Cummins.
“We were tossing it up [the decision to bowl first]. We’ve been batting first pretty much for the whole tournament. Today we thought it was a good night to chase and it might actually get a little bit easier to play. Everyone was pretty keen to get out there,” Cummins said.
Cummins opened on the side’s ability to contain India for 240 runs was due to the pitch conditions in the Ahmedabad Stadium. The players also well responded for the decision and slowly picked up the phase.
“[They were] desperate for sure,” Cummins said of his team’s electric fielding in the opening phase of the game. “I think it all started last week, against South Africa. The boys have been fantastic. We’ve got an aging side but everyone still throws themselves around when you’ve got a big stadium like this packed.”
“It [pitch] was a bit slower than I thought. It didn’t particularly spin as much as we thought either. I thought everyone adjusted pretty well and bowled outstanding lines. On a slow wicket like that where there is variable bounce, so we thought [of having] a couple of catchers on the leg side. You have to score runs in ODI cricket so you put a couple of catchers there and make them make such decisions,” Cummins opined.
On the Other hand, Rohit Sharma and Head Coach Rahul Dravid admitted that their side was about 30-40 runs short, But Cummins had other ideas, restricting the host to 300 was a thing that his side could take on. Adding 60 to the host’s total would not affect that much the result of now.
“I was one of those blokes with a heart fluttering upstairs. I was pacing,” Cummins revealed. “Marnus [Labuschagne] walked in out there with a cool head straight away and Trav (Head) does what he does, really brave again, he takes the game on and puts the pressure back on the bowlers. To do it on the biggest stage shows a lot of character.”
Australia had their hands after defeating two powerhouses of the tournament South Africa and India in the knockout stages despite their early defeats against the powerhouses in group-stage matches.
“You’ve got to go and win a World Cup. You can’t wait for it to happen. You’ve got to be brave at times and take the game on. There was a real shift after those first two games, our batting particularly saw the openers go on and be really aggressive. And they pretty much didn’t waver from that for the rest of the tournament,” Cummins said.
“I was pretty happy they [the crowd] were solid for the bowling innings. A couple of times it got loud and it was really loud. I mean the passion in India is unrivalled around the World.
Every single person is wearing a blue shirt and you look around and it is a pretty special moment. Whatever the result, we’re never going to forget a day like today,” Cummins expressed his gratitude.
“I think we saved our best for last. A couple of big-match players stood up, we’re pretty chuffed,” he added.
With the Ashes 2023 trophy, Australia added another two ICC trophies to their cabinet with the World Test Championship and the World Cup tournament. Pat Cummins said, “Crazy. This year will be a year we’ll remember for a long, long time.”
Australia will be playing their 5-match T20I series against India starting their first T20I on November 23 at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
