2023: Pat Cummins' and Australia's year of riches, but unfulfilled goals will hurt

"Nothing more satisfying than silencing a big crowd," Pat Cummins said these famous words a day before perhaps the biggest match of his career as Australia's captain. But he had achieved what most thought was unthinkable. He was walking into the cauldron that was the colossal Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, jampacked, ready to get into the minds of the Australians and mess them up.

Mind you, this was not the Australian team of the epochal era that had steamrolled opposition to reach the World Cup final. They were yet to play that perfect game in the 2023 World Cup and while the final against the unbeaten hosts was the opportunity, the tourists knew it had every chance to go south. They were up against a side that was ruthless and it would have been no shame to lose to a mighty good Indian team.

But on the day, Cummins proved he was every bit the bloodline of Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke - all of whom kept adding crowns to their trophy cabinet. Although slightly an outlier compared to the Pontings and the Waughs, Cummins' ruthlessness wasn't any lesser than theirs. On a tacky Ahmedabad surface, the visiting captain sent Rohit Sharma's men into bat, which seemed like Cummins was asking for a bad outcome.

The clutter in their minds during the first two games went out of the window. Clarity and fearlessness were the new characteristics, as the visitors challenged India in a way they could have hardly thought of.

It was outmanoeuvring and out-smarting of the highest class as Cummins led an outstanding bowling effort to restrict India to 240, with Travis Head hitting top gear to get his side over the line. From walking into the tournament leading the country only in 3 ODIs, Cummins was a World Cup-winning captain. After the match, the apt words came out from him, 'We had saved our best for the last'.

What 2023 could have been for Australia and Pat Cummins?

Ravindra Jadeja continued to be Australia's nemesis. (Credits: Twitter)

It wouldn't be a mistake by the pundits to rate Cummins as the captain of the year. The icing on the cake that was the 2023 World Cup trophy was him striking a multi-million-dollar contract in the IPL 2024 auction. Deserving or not, Cummins calming Australia through the storm of being on the brink of group-stage elimination has garnered him many fans.

He closed out the year by thwarting Pakistan's storm at the MCG when they threatened to pull off a record run-chase by sending down match-defining spells in both innings. Yet, the year could've been more defining than it turned out, as Cummins had the chance to take Australia where few of his predecessors hadn't.

Had the 30-year-old breached India and England, 2023 would have been unrivalled for him. It still remains unrivalled when compared with his contemporaries, but the series wins in India and England would have created an enviable legacy. If considered fairly, Cummins lacked the understanding of the correct tempo in India. It was something Steve Smith was more familiar with, salvaging some pride after the regular captain left for home to be with his ailing mother. Yet, it was a surrender as meek, unlike any Australian team.

Nothing would hurt them more than the capitulation on the third morning in Delhi when the tourists needed to abort that high-risk game. With three full days left, the Aussies' fate could have been rewritten. Instead, it took India just over 4 days to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Australia's drought in England continues

Both sides fought tooth and nail in the Ashes. (Credits: Twitter)

However, there was never a better chance for Australia than in 2023 to end their 22-year drought in England. They geared up for the Ashes with a thumping win over India to capture the Test championship mace. But a rejuvenated England certainly shook Australia in ways that even docile batting surfaces did not amount to big scores.

A 2-0 lead, albeit streaky victories, should have had the visitors as firm favourites to win the series. Instead, it needed a force of nature by the 4th Test to merely guarantee themselves the urn. It might be the infamous stumping incident at Lord's that revved them up, but England ran into Australia like a train from the 3rd Test. 'Bazball' took its roots in the series when Ben Stokes launched an assault at Lord's, but it well and truly caught with Australia in Manchester - this time spearheaded by Zak Crawley.

Nathan Lyon was their kryptonite for 'Bazball' but suffered a series-defining calf injury at Lord's. Yet, Cummins' tactics at various junctures were hugely questionable.

The decision to keep a deep point for Crawley against the new-ball bowlers, not picking Todd Murphy in Manchester when Joe Root and Moeen Ali were extracting spin, the inability to stick to consistent lengths to Crawley, bowling bouncers against Mark Wood to allow him a cameo at Headingley in both innings - were some grave mistakes Australia made on the tour.

It was also perhaps the first time that Cummins, the bowler, seemed clueless. By the time of the final Ashes Test, the writing was likely on the wall that England were in the box seat to come on top at The Oval. While Tim Paine's retention of Ashes in 2019 boosted his captaincy credentials, the same result made fans doubt Cummins' credibility.

Pat Cummins' constant evolution as captain keeps Australia in good stead

Pat Cummins. (Image Credits: Twitter)

But unlike Paine, who wilted under pressure, Cummins embraced it, learning quickly to become the 2.0 version which loved captaincy. Nothing headlined it more than during his haul of 2/34 in the World Cup final without leaking a boundary combined with two big scalps, one of which was Virat Kohli. More of it was on display during the MCG Test when he took matters into his own hands to inspire them to victory.

With only two years into captaincy, Cummins has achieved magnum opuses. He has been imperfect and might make flawed decisions in the future. But it's the New South Welshman's continuous evolution that reeks of Australia's promise of righting the wrongs.