LAHORE: In addition to leading his side to a series victory against Pakistan, Australian captain Pat Cummins has equaled Wasim Akram’s 27-year-old record of leading a team to a series triumph.
In the three-match test series against Pakistan, the right-arm fast bowler grabbed 12 wickets, making him the equal greatest wicket-taker skipper in an away three-match test series.
It is to be noted that no fast bowling captain has taken more wickets in a three-match away series. Former Pakistan left-arm pacer Wasim Akram, who bagged 12 wickets in a three-match Test series against England in 1996, is the other fast bowling captain to achieve the feat.
First-Test surfaces were more favorable to batting, therefore Patt and other fast bowlers had little success. Before this series, he had just one test wicket to his name, and three more in the second. The captain led from the front in the series decider in Lahore.
Pakistan were in a comfortable position after lunch on day 3 when suddenly Pat Cummins started to reverse swing the ball. Pakistan lost their last five wickets for just four runs courtesy of a five-wicket haul by the skipper.
Cummins picked up eight wickets in the last Test of the series and turned it around alongside teammate Nathan Lyon who also got five-for in the second innings.
Cummins was declared Man of the Match for his game-changing performance, whereas, Usman Khwaja was given the Player of the Series award for scoring 496 runs in five innings at an average of 165.33, including two centuries and two half-centuries.
Australia won the match by 115 runs to take the series 1-0. The ODI’s will start from March 29. Whereas the only T20I will be played on April 5 at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore.
