The Midas Rating that Pat Cummins enjoyed in his captaincy career helped him reach another International grand Final, this time with his Indian Premier League team Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Cummins, who led Australia to a Test world Championship and 50-over World Cup triumph last year, was delighted to lead his success-spoiled team to the T20 Juggernaut event Final on Friday, leading them to a comfortable 36-run semi-final victory over Rajasthan Royals in Chennai.
It was another feather in the cap of leader of the 31-year-old bowler, whose remarkable success has long silenced any critic who doubted his tactical sense.
Once again, also leading from the front, with his four Overs for only 1-30 as the Royals stumbled to 7-139 in pursuit of 176, Cummins drew another impressive air from his team, which was the boldest and most rude team in the league this season.Season.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for the whole Franchise, there are about 60 or 70 of us in the locker rooms, with the coaches and the staff and everyone who puts their heart and soul into this team,” Cummins said after playing a final rematch with Mitchell Starc’s Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai on Sunday.
“So it’s really rewarding and hopefully we can do another one.”
And there will be a second Chance for Cummins’ Hyderabad teammate Travis Head, who was taunted for a duck by a beauty from his international teammate Starc as KKR won the first playoff duel in the middle of the two teams quite comfortably on Tuesday in Ahmedabad.
His 34 off 28 balls at the top of the innings looked positively like slugs compared to most of his electric starts in this campaign, but was nevertheless an important and reassuring contribution after the Sunrisers had actiond to 3-57.
It was Heinrich Klaasen’s 34-ball 50 that did the most to get Hyderabad to 9-175, with Avesh Khan having done much of the damage to the Royals with his 3-27 from four Overs.
After helping to stop the chase early by smothering the wicket of Underdog Tom Kohler-Cadmore and then taking 1-10 off two Overs in his opening spell, Cummins dropped Shahbaz Ahmed (3-23) and Abhishek Sharma (2-24) to turn the Sunrisers into their third IPL Final-but only their first in six years.
However, all Hyderabad fans will have confidence that “Captain Australia” will lead them to their first title.
