Cummins’ captaincy in World Cup closing was sensible: Paine

Australia’s former Test skipper Tim Paine has praised Pat Cummins for his exemplary management and efficiency with the ball after their triumphant World Cup marketing campaign in India.

Cummins led from the entrance and completed with spectacular figures of two/34 from his 10 overs, choosing up the essential wickets of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer to limit India to a modest 240. His daring determination to bowl first after profitable the toss was hailed by many.

Australia then rode on Travis Head (137) and Marnus Labuschagne (58 not out)‘s 192-run fourth-wicket stand to beat India by six wickets and lift the coveted trophy for a record-extending sixth time.

“When we won the toss, I think Pat Cummins shocked everyone a bit with the call to bowl first,” Paine told SEN Radio.

“They obviously had some terrific mail – and they all have a lot of IPL experience and have been there – the mail on that ground is that the dew comes in, and it is extremely hard to bowl in the second innings, and I think we saw that.

“The concern was, I think, that being an Indian pitch and potentially being a bit drier that it would spin and slow right up, and it didn’t try this, if something it really bought barely higher,” he mentioned.

Paine mentioned Cummins didn’t put a foot mistaken within the huge finale on Sunday.

“I don’t think there was a thing last night that Pat Cummins got wrong. He was outstanding, and he deserves a lot of credit for that. Andrew McDonald and his coaching staff deserve a lot of credit for that,” he mentioned.

“Bowling first was the first call. Then when we were bowling, you could see the homework that went into it. The fields we had early to Rohit Sharma, that deep point, slip and Glenn Maxwell at like a fly slip,” the previous wicket-keeper batter mentioned.

“Then to change that around as soon as they saw the wicket was a bit slower, and the ball got older to Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, at times we went with four guys on the offside and no cover. I haven’t seen that in one-day cricket.” Paine mentioned Cummins had one in all his “great game” as skipper within the title conflict.

“When the Indian batsmen were trying to consolidate, Pat read that beautifully and brought Travis Head on and Mitch Marsh on to bank some overs when they weren’t really looking to take us on.

“I thought Pat Cummins had one of the great games as the captain, and then when he bowled, that’s as good as I have seen him for a while. When he went full speed, he was hitting the wicket hard, and I thought he set the tone.

“His captaincy was brilliant, his bowling was outstanding, and we were brilliant in the field as well,” he added.