"Great players stand up when it’s time to deliver"- David Warner hails skipper Pat Cummins after Australia's 2023 World Cup triumph

Veteran Australian opener David Warner heaped praise on teammate and captain Pat Cummins for producing his best as a leader in the final of the 2023 World Cup against India.

Warner shed light on how brave Cummins was in his decision-making and how he stood up with the ball when it mattered the most. Cummins produced figures of 2/34 in his 10 overs and sucked the momentum out of India's batting innings in the final.

Speaking to AB de Villiers in an interview, here's what David Warner had to say about Pat Cummins' performance:

“Yesterday was a testament to the way we went about it. As a captain, to be brave and make a decision was phenomenal. Yesterday, the way he bowled was unbelievable. That was his best spell in the whole tournament. Great players stand up when it’s time to deliver and yesterday, he truly did that."

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David Warner on Pat Cummins' critics

David Warner also shed light on just how much criticism Pat Cummins had to face about his captaincy, especially during the Ashes. Cummins also suffered from criticism when Australia lost their opening two games of the 2023 World Cup, which Warner felt was really unfair to single out the captain.

On this, he stated:

"He has been so calm the whole time. He was criticised in England for his field placements, which were defensive and all that. He copped it again when we got off to a slow start. It’s not fair. The captain is leading the ship, but as a whole unit, we take responsibility ourselves."

Winning the World Test Championship final, retaining the Ashes, and then following it up with an unprecedented sixth World Cup title, Cummins has had a dream 2023 as a captain. He will arguably go down as one of the best captains Australia produced.