'Reminded Me Of Lillee's Greatness - Former Aussie Skipper On Pat Cummins' Heroics 

Pat Cummins had a successful 2023 as Australia's captain. [PC: X]

Former Australian legendary cricketer Ian Chappell was full of praise for Pat Cummins after Australia’s scintillating win in the recently concluded second Test against Pakistan in Melbourne. Chappell has lauded the Australian skipper’s captaincy skills and the bowler he is turning out to be day after day.

Cummins had one of the best years as a cricketer and captain of Australia in 2023. The 30-year-old led the kangaroos to their maiden World Test Championship Title in June, which was followed by a record 6th ODI World Cup title, beating India in the final in front of more than ninety thousand people in Ahmedabad.

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Moreover, Australia managed to retain the Ashes under his leadership and also took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing three-match test series against Pakistan to end the year on a high. It was quite a one-sided affair in the first Test against Pakistan in Perth but the visitors came back really strong, going neck to neck against the hosts.

However, it was skipper Cummins, who rose to the occasion with two match turning spells, taking five wickets in both the innings and led Australia to a hard fought 79-run victory. The delivery to dismiss Pakistan’s Babar Azam with an absolute snorter was easily the highlight of his performance in the boxing day Test.

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In his latest feature for ESPN Cricinfo, Ian Chappell drew a comparison of Cummins with the great Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee and said that the delivery from Cummins to dismiss Babar on Day 2 of the second Test reminded him of the deadliest Aussie bowler from his time.

“The spectacular delivery that Cummins produced to bowl Pakistan’s Babar Azam, reminded me of Lillee’s greatness,” Chappell wrote.

The trenchant commentator further heaped praise on Cummins’ will to get a batter out as he wished just like what Lillee used to do back in the day. He turned back to the 1972 Oval Test against England, where Lillee dismissed a well set Alan Knott in the second innings, with sheer will power and determination to get the batter out.

Coming back to the present, Chappell found the same will power of Lillee in Cummins, after the way he got Babar out - opposition’s best batter.

“He (Lillee) didn’t bowl Knott with pure pace. Nor did he beat the bat with movement. Lillee bowled Knott with sheer will power. He wanted the batter out. Like Lillee, Cummins wanted Babar out,” Chappell added.

Australia and Pakistan will be up against each other for one last time in the third Test which is scheduled to start from January 3 in Sydney. On the back of a breathtaking 2023, captain Cummins will be eyeing the new year with a victory and of course a 3-0 series win on record.

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