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Australian skipper Pat Cummins has been arguably the most valuable cricketer over the past year, thanks to his clutch moments ahead of his overall numbers.
Referred famously to as the 'Clutch gene', it is one that very few sportspersons exhibit time and again due to an extremely high degree of difficulty that tests a player's skillset, mental toughness, and decision-making.
A case in point of a captain displaying clutchness was MS Dhoni's famous 91* in India's triumphant 2011 World Cup final against Sri Lanka.
While Cummins' overall captaincy numbers of 12 wins in 15 ODIs and 17 in 28 Tests are impressive, his ability to stand tall in trying circumstances with bat, ball, and as captain has been most noteworthy. The 30-year-old led Australia to the World Test Championship (WTC) title, followed by a drawn Ashes series in England.
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He stamped the exclamation mark on the incredible run by leading the Men in Yellow to the 2023 ODI World Cup title. Cummins has also pulled off several clutch game-changing moments during this memorable captaincy run to reaffirm his place as one of the best under duress.
While his next captaincy assignment with the SunRisers Hyderabad in the upcoming 2024 IPL could be his biggest test yet, let us look at the top five clutch moments of Pat Cummins as Australian captain.
#1 Batting heroics to stun the Kiwis
Pat Cummins' latest clutch moment came during Australia's just-concluded tour of New Zealand. After winning the first Test of the two-match series convincingly, the Aussies were involved in a thriller in the second Test in Christchurch.
Despite grabbing a 94-run first innings lead, the Aussies met with a stubborn home side, who scored 372 in their second essay to set them a stiff target of 279. Reduced to 34/4 and later to 220/7, the visitors appeared to be on their way to suffering a first defeat on the New Zealand tour.
However, Cummins had other ideas as he pulled out another one of his batting heroics to help Australia win by three wickets.
Coming in with the side needing almost 60 runs and seven down, the champion cricketer displayed no nerves, scoring an unbeaten 32 off 44 deliveries to stun the BlackCaps.
Australia won the series 2-0 to complete the perfect Kiwi tour as Cummins added another trophy to his cabinet.
#2 Game-changing wicket of Virat Kohli in the 2023 World Cup final
Pat Cummins' dismissal of Virat Kohli in the 2023 World Cup final ranks as arguably the most painful moment in India's recent cricketing history.
The grand finale was well poised, with India ready for take-off at 148/3 when the Aussie skipper rose to the occasion again. Cummins landed a dagger blow to India's chances by castling Kohli in the 29th over to silence the rowdy Ahmedabad crowd.
Cummins' wicket led to a horrific Indian collapse that saw them slip to 214/8 and eventually 240 all-out in their 50 overs. The speedster finished with outstanding figures of 2/34 in 10 overs, but his scalp of Kohli tilted the game in Australia's favor.
Chasing the below-par total, the Men in Yellow romped home in only 43 overs to clinch their record sixth ODI World Cup title.
#3 Defiant stand with Glenn Maxwell to pull off heist against Afghanistan
Amidst several crucial moments in Australia's title run at the 2023 World Cup, the Pat Cummins-Glenn Maxwell partnership will surely rank at the top.
In what later became the turning point to their sub-par campaign until then, the Men in Yellow were in grave danger of losing badly to Afghanistan in Mumbai. Chasing 292, the Aussies were reeling at 91/7 when Cummins joined Maxwell, and it felt as if only the final formalities were left.
Maxwell began playing his trademark shots, leading to doubts creeping in on the Afghan players. Sensing the moment and Maxwell's imperious touch, Cummins played second fiddle to perfection in one of the best examples of 'game awareness'. The skipper scored just 12 runs but played 68 deliveries in a match-winning 202-run eighth wicket stand.
It led to the Aussies completing one of the most improbable wins by three wickets in the 47th over, and they never looked back from that point in the remainder of the tournament.
#4 Clutch batting to exorcise the demons of Edgbaston 2005
Even a raucous Edgbaston crowd and Ben Stokes' proactive captaincy could not deny Pat Cummins from another of his lower-order batting heroics in the Ashes 2023 opener.
After a hard-fought first four days, the first Test hung by the proverbial thread on Day 5 with Australia 107/3 in their run-chase of 281. However, the hosts ripped through the Aussie batting lineup to reduce them to 209/7, which soon became 227/8 with 54 runs still needed.
Yet, an unfazed Cummins architected an unbeaten 55-run eighth-wicket partnership with Nathan Lyon to help the Aussies pull off a two-wicket win. The skipper finished 44* off 73 deliveries as the visitors overcame their demons from 18 years back when they lost chasing a similar target by two runs.
The result proved crucial as Australia walked away with the Ashes urn after the series ended in a 2-2 draw.
#5 Breaking India's back in the 2023 WTC final
One of Pat Cummins' earliest clutch moments as captain came during the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) final against India at the Oval.
After scoring a formidable 469 in their first innings, the Aussies reduced India to a paltry 152/6. However, a resolute 89 by Ajinkya Rahane, in partnership with Ravindra Jadeja, brought India back into the contest at 261/6.
With the Indian contingent of the crowd going all guns blazing, Cummins became the ultimate silencer by dismissing Rahane 11 runs short of his century caught at gully.
The wicket became the final nail in India's coffin as they collapsed to be bowled out for 296. With a massive first-innings lead of 173, the Aussies dominated the Indians for the remainder of the contest and won by 209 runs to clinch their first major title under Pat Cummins.
The Aussie skipper also picked up four wickets in the match, including the scalps of Rohit Sharma and Rahane in the first innings and Cheteshwar Pujara in the second.
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