‘It's too much to ask’ – Pat Cummins not keen on white-ball captaincy

11/27/2021

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Australia’s new Test skipper, Pat Cummins has stated that he is not interested in white-ball captaincy, and would like to concentrate on the longer format of the game. The Australian pacer further lauded Aaron Finch’s leadership quality, and reckoned that split captaincy suited the national team.

Pat Cummins replaced Tim Paine as Australia's Test captain, after the wicket-keeper batsman had stepped down from the role and later decided to take an indefinite break from cricket. Paine's decision came after the emergence of the 2017 texting scandal from which he was cleared in 2018 by the integrity investigation unit. He had sent lewd and graphically explicit images to a female co-worker at Cricket Tasmania in 2017.

Australia's 47th Test captain, Cummins, also became the first fast bowler to become a full-time skipper of the Australia men’s Test team.

Meanwhile, the World’s no.1 ranked Test bowler, stated that he is not interested in captaining the national side in white-ball cricket. The speedster further reckoned that split captaincy suited the national team in the past.

“It's probably too early to say, mainly because I start this role and see where we go," Cummins was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.

"My gut feeling and preference at the moment is to have separate captains. I think it's too much to ask, certainly of me. I'd love to just concentrate on test cricket,” he added.

Australia’s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch led the national team to their maiden T20 World Cup title earlier this month, and Cummins stated that the right-hand batsman is doing a fantastic job as a leader.

"Aaron's doing a fantastic job," Cummins said, saying it was best to have "someone who can take the white-ball squad teams to make it their own, take it in their own direction".

“At the moment I'm purely focused on tests, that will stay the same for the foreseeable future.”

The first Test of the Ashes series will begin on December 8 in Brisbane.