Pat Cummins Keen To Play In IPL For Many "Obvious Reasons"

Pat Cummins, the most expensive player in the 2019 IPL auction, is one of the many cricketers, in support for the tournament to go ahead somehow. The coronavirus-pandemic has witnessed the calendar of significant sporting events plunge into chaos. The Indian Premier League (IPL), one of the marquee events conducted every year, also fell prey to it. But Cummins is thoroughly looking forward to playing in the competition this year for vast apparent reasons.

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After 12 successful and glorious seasons, the thirteenth edition was also going to be the blockbuster one. The BCCI postponed the tournament to the 15th of April from the 29th of March, which was its initial commencing date. Nevertheless, the rapidly proliferating cases of COVID-19 meant that it had to be postponed indefinitely. The good news is the Indian cricket board is still pulling all the stops to make sure the lucrative league takes place this year.

Kolkata Knight Riders, who secured Cummins’ services for the 2020 IPL season, dished out a staggering INR 15.5 crores to him. He broke the record for being the most expensive overseas player in the auction, eclipsing England’s Ben Stokes. The 27-year old has previously represented Kolkata and Delhi Daredevils in the cash-rich league. And being in regular contact with the owners, Pat Cummins’ confidence has also grown that the tournament can take place in 2020 itself.

“Whenever I speak to the owners of the team and the staff there, they’re really confident that it can be played at some stage this year. I was really looking forward to playing it for many obvious reasons, hopefully it goes ahead.” Cummins said as quoted by Times of India.

IPL could be a great way to get back to playing cricket: Pat Cummins

After ruling in red-ball cricket, the number one Test bowler has his sights set on the shortest format as well. Hence, the Australian speedster believes that IPL is the perfect way to get back into playing cricket as being a T20 game; it is not so cumbersome. Cummins went on to say that with one eye at the World Cup during some stage, a supreme quality T20 cricket would keep them in good stead.

“It (IPL) could be a great way to get back into playing cricket. It’s T20, not as cumbersome on your body. We’ve got a big World Cup that is going to be played at some stage, so playing as much high-quality T20 cricket as we can is great.” the New South Wales-born added.

There exists a possibility that the IPL takes place somewhere between October-November in case the T20 World Cup in Australia gets postponed. Pat Cummins would begin his training for the New South Wales-pre-season camp from the 1st of June.

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