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Oops, Captain Planet did it again. Not content with claiming the World Test Championship mace, or retaining the Ashes urn, Pat Cummins has added the ICC World Cup trophy to his collection after leading Australia to victory against India.<\/p>\n
Travis Head might have been the man of the match after taking a spectacular outfield catch before rattling off an authoritative century, but it was Cummins who silenced the partisan crowd of 132,000 in the final at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.<\/p>\n
Dismissing Virat Kohli will do that. It can silence a country.<\/p>\n
Head\u2019s catch to dismiss lethal opener Rohit Sharma put the brakes on India\u2019s feverish start, but a sizeable target was still possible as long as Kohli strutted about the crease.<\/p>\n
Early in his innings, he deployed textbook strokes that reminded you there\u2019s still a place for class in cricket, no matter the format.<\/p>\n
He leaned onto his back foot and punched a delivery to the square boundary. A few balls later, he eased his weight forward and effortlessly drove through the covers for another four.<\/p>\n
Buoyed by delirious home crowds, Kohli had gorged on runs for a month. After he reached his fifth half century of the tournament, he was expected to cash in. When Kohli gets started, he\u2019s almost impossible to stop.<\/p>\n
So Cummins took it upon himself to end the party.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a tricky decision for a bowling captain: when to inject yourself into the attack, balancing what\u2019s best for the team with wanting to do it yourself, often over-playing your hand.<\/p>\n
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Captain Planet.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n It was a thing of beauty. Give me immaculate technique instead of batters sticking out an open-faced bat while closing their eyes and hoping for the best.<\/p>\n But Cummins steamed in and stunned Kohli with pace and elevation. Kohli\u2019s imperious footwork was suddenly no longer a factor: he was up on his toes, desperate to tame the snake, but instead chopped onto his stumps.<\/p>\n Cummins roared in celebration but the sea of blue in the stands was mute. Some fans were crying. Kohli looked like a man who\u2019d just has his soul stolen. \u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re in library,\u201d former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson said in commentary. That dismissal changed the game.<\/p>\n Since being thrust into the captaincy following the shock resignation of Tim Paine, Cummins has lost just eight matches (five Tests, three one-day internationals) from 36.<\/p>\n Apart from the away Test series against India earlier in the year (which was lost after a bad couple of hours in Delhi), and a late-Ashes fade-out (after winning Tests in Birmingham and Lord\u2019s), he\u2019s led his country with distinction.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t get every session right, although that is the expectation unfairly heaped on Cummins. He will never possess the tactical smarts of Steve Waugh nor Ricky Ponting, but he\u2019s a leader of men, that much is clear.<\/p>\n And he\u2019s no dolt. At the start of the day, he set social media and internet forums ablaze after he won the coin toss and elected to bowl. It puzzled the best of judges while outraging the cricket ignorati on social media. <\/p>\n Those who read former fast bowler Geoff Lawson\u2019s always compelling Sun-Herald<\/em> column earlier that day would have known what was at play: that it was all about the dew, baby.<\/p>\n \u201cI am yet to hear a single commentator explain the \u2018dew point\u2019,\u201d Lawson wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty basic combination of relative humidity, air pressure and temperature and therefore quite predictable. It is an important factor when considering whether to bat or bowl first as it affects the ground and pitch conditions in the second innings of day\/night games quite a bit. Turning pitches at afternoon tea straighten out after dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n Cummins admitted after the final he was torn about what to do should he win the toss, but his decision to bowl set Australia on a path to victory.<\/p>\n Former captain Mark Taylor: \u201cI said at the toss, I was a little surprised that he elected to bowl first. I thought runs on the board would be the way to go, but he\u2019s summed up the conditions well. He knew that in the dry time when there\u2019s no dew around would be the best time to bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Cummins has come of age through this World Cup.\u2019<\/p>\n Former captain Ponting, who has been as critical of Cummins\u2019 tactics as anyone: \u201cCummins has come of age through this World Cup \u2026 There had been some criticism of his captaincy and his leadership. Not any more.\u201d<\/p>\n Cummins has been mischaracterised as the man who ended Alinta\u2019s sponsorship of the Australian team and the tenure of coach Justin Langer.<\/p>\n Neither is correct. Alinta has said publicly Cummins\u2019 concerns about the company\u2019s carbon footprint had \u201cno bearing on our decision\u201d to end the deal with Cricket Australia.<\/p>\n As for Langer\u2019s departure, he wasn\u2019t the only player who felt it was time for the angry little ant to move on. Cummins represented his players during that period. It\u2019s probably why they are playing for him now.<\/p>\n