AUS Vs PAK: Pat Cummins Australia's 2nd Greatest Cricketer After Sir Don Bradman? Michael Vaughan Gives Brutal Verdict

Former England captain Micheal Vaughan while speaking to Fox Cricket in the ongoing 3rd test between Australia and Pakistan in Sydney, has claimed that Pat Cummins is well on course to become the greatest cricketer this country has ever produced and named Sir Donald Bradman as the only one to be mentioned before the Right-arm pacer.

Pat Cummins since appointed as captain of the Australian national team in November 2021, has gone from strength to strength with his team and has tasted plenty of success in the recent past. It’s not just the captaincy that has made the news but his own individual performances have made him arguably, one of the greatest ever to grace the game of cricket.

Pat Cummins’ Struggle And Comeback In International Cricket

Many believe that he was destined to achieve whatever he has achieved until now in his career. Having made his debut with the Australian team during a T20 match against South Africa in October 2011, Pat Cummins did not have to wait much longer to break into the Test and ODI sides.

He played his 1st test match as an 18-year-old in South Africa but had to wait for 6 long years to appear in his next one as an injury almost ended his career. In 2017, he returned to the Test side with a bang, racking up 29 wickets in 8 tests that year.

He was also a part of the 2015 Australian team that won the ICC Cricket World Cup on home soil along with Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood as the main pacers. In 2018, a year after his Test return, Pat Cummins was awarded the Allan Border Medal, which is given to the best Australian cricketer of a particular year.

Little did he know that a couple of years later in 2021, he would be taking over as the permanent Captain of the team ahead of his senior Mitchell Starc. Though his bowling performances earned him praise every now and then, his captaincy was always up for debate and it needed ICC titles for him to be put in the same bracket as Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting among others.

That year came in 2023. At the start of last year, Pat Cummins lost his mother due to a prolonged illness and had to leave the Border-Gavaskar trophy series in the middle but by then Australia had sealed a spot in the WTC Final against India.

In June, he led Australia to their first-ever World Test Championship mase, making sure all ICC trophies are now in the Aussie cabinet. But 4 months later, came his greatest moment as the captain. Pat Cummins as he had promised, shushed off a million Indian fans inside the World’s largest cricket stadium as Australia humiliated India in the Cricket World Cup final. It was his 2nd CWC title but it might have tasted better as it was his 1st as the captain.

The bonus came exactly a month after the CWC win after Sunrisers Hyderabad paid over 20 crores to sign him as their key player for next year’s IPL.

Vaughan Puts Pat Cummins Ahead Of Ricky Ponting And Steve Waugh

Micheal Vaughan spoke to Fox Cricket about Pat Cummins going on to become Australia’s greatest-ever cricketer after Sin Don Bradman. Even though Vaughan himself has played against Ricky Ponting’s Australia, he thought Cummins was in the making of becoming the best in Australia.

“I do not think he is ever going to surpass Sir Don, but I think Pat Cummins is going to be Australia’s greatest cricketer after Sir Don. I honestly think he is that good. His bowling. His captaincy. His numbers. He has 5-7 years left to play. I honestly think he is that good that we will be talking about him in a few years as being just behind Sir Don as the greatest Australian cricketer.” – Vaughan said.

Pat Cummins has racked up 252 wickets in Tests, 141 in ODIs, and 55 in the shortest format. He finished the 2023 calendar year with 59 wickets across all formats in 24 matches and also proved his efficiency with the bat by scoring 422 runs.