Pat Cummins explains how he masterminded Australia’s 2023 World Cup glory

Australian captain Pat Cummins recently revealed how he masterminded the 2023 World Cup triumph in India last month. The speedster revealed that the Aussies switched from Plan A to Plan B after losing the ODI series in South Africa.

The 30-year-old said that he watched his teammates getting tired after bowling long spells and then being punished for boundaries during the death overs in hot and humid conditions, similar to India. It prompted him to discuss new plans with Australia's head coach, Andrew McDonald. Cummins missing out on the series, after sustaining a wrist injury, led to the conversation being initiated.

Cummins was quoted as saying by Syndey Morning Herald (via Masthead):

“So from afar as well, you look at it and it is a bit of a pressure release, seeing that. And it is like you’re seeing things play out and just a different perspective to what we normally get on the ground.”

"Sitting up there next to Andrew means we could talk through things on the fly ahead of the series. I think in Centurion it was hot, about 40C, the boys had been out there for three hours. Then you’ve got two set batters and you’re running in trying to hit yorkers and as an outsider that just looked really hard to do."

He added:

“The boys looked tired, they’d been out there for hours. So I think off the back of that you start to have conversations around ‘OK, well, at our best, yes, we might be able to hit yorkers, but if we’ve been in the field for 40 overs and we’re cooked, how do we put the percentages back in our favor?’ So slower balls, maybe bouncers or cutters, things that have a bit more margin for error.”

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“It will be a year I’ll remember” – Pat Cummins on winning World Cup and WTC final in 2023

Pat Cummins further looked back at his team's achievements under his leadership as the Aussies won the World Test Championship final, ODI World Cup, and Ashes (retained) in 2023. He said:

“It will be a year I’ll remember as probably the highlight of my cricketing career. A really busy year, but in terms of cricket the most satisfying I’ve personally had. A lot of sacrifices this year, a lot of the boys have spent way more time away than they have at home. So it’s good to get together this time of the year and celebrate."

Pat Cummins will now be looking to guide Australia to an unassailable 2-0 lead against Pakistan by winning the Boxing Day Test ahead of the new year. The Aussies won the opening Test by 360 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.