Michael Vaughan rubs salt on Pat Cummins' wounds right before Pink Ball Test vs India

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has revealed the reason behind Pat Cummins' disappointing performance during the first Test of the series in Perth. Vaughan also predicted Pat Cummins to return to form in the second Test at Adelaide.

It is to be noted that Cummins endured poor form during the first Test of the series in Perth. The Australian captain returned figures of 2-67 and 1-86 across two innings of the match. Cummins even had a disappointing time as a captain as most of his plans went into disarray.

Over the years, Pat Cummins has been one of the best players for Australia in the red-ball format. However, he looked rusty in Perth which didn't help Australia's cause. He will be aiming to make a solid comeback in the pink-ball Test at Adelaide.

Also read: Australia Playing 11 for India 2nd Test at Adelaide Announced; Josh Hazlewood faces the wrath

Michael Vaughan backs Pat Cummins to come back hard in Adelaide

While speaking on Follow On, Michael Vaughan called Pat Cummins a world-class player and backed him to make a comeback in Adelaide. Michael Vaughan predicted that Cummins' pace will be up in Adelaide after he looked rusty in Perth.

“He’s a world-class performer, a brilliant captain, and a brilliant bowler. (But) the one thing I’ll say is he did look short of a gallop in the first Test," Michael Vaughan said on the show.

"He’d not been playing any cricket. He had not played any longer format cricket since March. So I would think this week in Adelaide, he will be up on his pace because of what he did last week," he added.

Pat Cummins has not played much cricket in the last few months. He played the T20 World Cup 2024 for Australia in which they bowed out of the Super 8 stage. Cummins also missed the subsequent England tour in which Australia played an ODI and a T20I series.

Why was Pat Cummins ineffective in Adelaide? Michael Vaughan reveals the reason

While speaking further on the show, Michael Vaughan claimed that the drop in pace has been one of the main reasons behind Pat Cummins' disappointing performance in Perth. According to Vaughan, the drop in pace gave extra time to the Indian batters to adjust to Cummins' seam movement and made it easier for them to play him.

“Pace is a lot for Pat Cummins. If he is down to 135 (or so), I think it gives the batters that extra little bit of time to adjust to the movement and the accuracy that he produces," Vaughan noted.

"We saw it in the Ashes, actually, a couple of years ago, that when England got after him, and when England got after Australia, England looked like a team that were dominating. The field was spread and run-scoring became that much easier," he added.

Pat Cummins' Test career

Pat Cummins is one of the vital players in the Australian Test team. He is also a successful captain having led Australia to various important victories under his leadership.

Cummins has played 63 Tests and picked up 272 wickets at an impressive average of 22.85. He is also a useful batter lower down the order. The second Test between Australia and India will be played in Adelaide from December 6.