Pat Cummins reveals why he decided to challenge conventional wisdom in Cricket World Cup final

Australia captain Pat Cummins is a rare cricketer. A fast bowler who also captains the national team – it’s rare in world cricket let alone in Australian cricket. In so many different ways, Cummins has challenged the norm and then went on to change it. Hence, when he won the toss and opted to bowl first in the Cricket World Cup final against an undefeated Indian team, he once again defied conventional wisdom.

There is this common notion in cricket that batting first and putting up a score is the way to go about things in the final. However, Cummins did not budge and decided to trust his instincts. This decision proved to be a winning one, as Australia secured their sixth Cricket World Cup title in front of close to 100,000 fans in Ahmedabad, India.

Speaking in an interview, Cummins said he knew all about the prevailing belief that batting is the preferred choice in finals, but then he was also aware of the recent trends that brought success to sides bowling first in the last five One Day International (ODI) finals.

“Of course, you sound out other people,” he told ABC’s Sarah Ferguson. “Everyone was pretty sure it just felt like a bowling day.”

Under an unconventional bowler captain, Australia has had one of their best years ever – they won the ODI World Cup, retained the Ashes and also clinched the World Test Championship title.

Cummins expressed confidence in his ability to make on-the-fly decisions and noted the improvement in his intuition over the years.

“I trust myself that when I’m out there I can work things out on the fly and the intuition’s gotten better over a couple of years,” he said.

“Whereas when I first started, I probably didn’t have as big a gut feel. And you try to over-plan and overthink things before they actually happen.”

The captain was leading the way for Australia even when their campaign looked dead and buried after the first 2 losses. His spell against Sri Lanka sparked a turnaround and it was his spell against India in the middle overs in the final that turned the match around.