New Delhi: Every now and then, the cricketing world needs a reminder that Pat Cummins remains exceptional at his primary craft: fast bowling. Yet, in the process, Cummins the captain has been somewhat overshadowed. Amid the celebration of his extraordinary skills with the ball, his tactical brilliance as a captain has been flagrantly overlooked.But one cannot deny that Cummins the captain and Cummins the bowler are inseparably intertwined.Nowadays in the IPL, even a score of 264 is not safe, and it is Cummins’ ultra-aggressive captaincy that has shifted the paradigm of this tournament. In his first season as captain in IPL 2024, he set the tone. And who can forget his dressing room talk to his teammates, where he famously said: “Everyone’s terrified when they come up against us and we’ve got to blow some teams out of the water before they’ve even walked out onto the field.“SRH had a difficult 2025 campaign. This season, things have looked different, and they are once again in the playoffs. Although Cummins joined the campaign midway after recovering from a stress injury, SRH continued to play a “take-no-prisoners” style of cricket under stand-in skipper Ishan Kishan, a brand that had been instilled into their DNA by Cummins.In an exclusive interaction with TimesofIndia.com on the sidelines of the New Balance Grey Days 2026 celebration and the launch of The New Retail Concept store in Noida, Pat Cummins opens up about his captaincy style, SRH, the six-hitting madness in T20 cricket, workload management, being an all-format cricketer, and why he went “wow” after watching Vaibhav Sooryavanshi bat. Edited Excerpts: It’s turning out to be another strong season for you at the SRH. How has the ride been so far?It’s been great. It’s a bit of a different season for me, joining halfway, but I felt really high energy and really excited to be part of it. The team has been playing fantastically well, strong contributions across the whole squad, which has been really pleasing.
Ahmedabad, May 12 (ANI): Sunrisers Hyderabad’s skipper Pat Cummins celebrates the wicket of Gujarat Titans’ Nishant Sindhu during their Indian Premier League 2026 match at Narendra Modi Stadium, in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. (ANI Photo)
Joining the team midway and then sustaining the momentum, it seemed like a seamless takeover from Ishan Kishan. Tell us a little about thatIshan is a fantastic captain, fantastic around the boys, so I kind of stayed out of the way for the first seven games. Obviously, Daniel Vettori, the head coach and the whole coaching staff, they’re great as well, so it’s all very seamless, whether it’s Ishan or myself captaining, not much changes about how we go about it.The last few seasons you and SRH in particular have been the pioneers in changing the way T20 cricket has been played. How difficult was it to imbibe that mindset in the group?I think it’s a natural fit for T20 cricket. There’s 10 teams in this competition, if you just want to be average, you’re not going to make it, so you’ve got to do something that stands you out, makes you stand out from the pack. Look around at some of the talent, Abhishek (Sharma), Klaassen( Heinrich), Trav (Travis Head), Ishan (Kishan), these guys shouldn’t be told that they can only bat a certain way. You want to see them at their full flight.A lot of my style is getting out of the way and let those guys go and play their natural game.
I think it is the new reality. You do not have that many tools at your disposal. Cutters do not normally grip, there is not much swing, there is not much bounce.
Pat Cummins on bowlers plight in T20s
We see the kind of pitches, the runs that have been scored, every time it has been told that bowlers need to be upskilled. Do you really see how much a bowler can do, because balance has tilted one way?I think that’s the new reality. You don’t have that many tools at your disposal. Cutters don’t normally grip, there’s not much swing, there’s not much bounce.I don’t think it’s anything different to what it was a few years back. Batters have been a bit more aggressive and maybe starting to realise that they can score a bit quicker than what they previously thought. I think that’s been the biggest challenge.As a bowler, you’ve just got to adapt to the new normal, find ways to defend yourself. Even if it’s the second over in a game, that might be a super important over you’ve got to try and defend.
SunriserscCaptain Pat Cummins
How does Pat Cummins prepare when he knows he will be bowling to a 15-year-old teenager like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi who takes on the bowlers from the word go?I think he keeps everyone on their toes.You think the batter’s going to play a certain way and you see someone like him come out and try and hit every ball for six. You’re like, okay, this is fun. How am I going to counter this challenge? It’s mostly the way I look at it. If something gets thrown at me, I’m like, okay, this is interesting. How do I try and solve this problem.
I think the trend is you see players being rested from a few more games than previous generations because you are trying to avoid the big 12-month injuries.
Pat Cummins on challneges of bring ann all-format bowler
It’s been a growing trend now that very few would end up playing/mastering every format. Not just batters but even bowlers. Very few are left – yourself, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Starc and Kagiso Rabada. You reckon every team/country will now look at formats in isolation and not maybe have repetition of players across formats?I’d say not necessarily. I think the trend is you see players being rested from a few more games than previous generations because you’re trying to avoid the big 12-month injuries.Before this injury, I played a lot of cricket over the last five years, bowled a lot of balls, but I was also rested from a few games here and there. There’s just so much cricket. For example, next year, it’s an ODI World Cup year.I’m sure I’ll probably play more ODIs that year than I have in the previous few years. Just like a T20 year, I’ll probably play more T20s.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 22: Pat Cummins takes part in a training session at Cricket Central on October 22, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
How challenging is it to transition between formats, especially going from something as physically demanding as a five-Test series straight into the intensity of the IPL?Particularly in Test cricket, we try and carve out a little bit of time before or post to make sure that you are ready for the Test matches but also get a little bit of recovery after them. They’re the ones that I find probably the easiest to adapt to. And then T20s, I feel like I’ve played enough over the last couple of years, so you’ve just got to mentally switch on and know what your style is.How do you manage the toll it can take on the body and mind over such long stretches of cricket?I’m a little bit used to it, but when we do have a little bit of a break, we’re not on holidays. We’re at home, going to the gym every couple of days, trying to get strength in so that when we do play a Test match, our body’s ready for the rigours of it.
I was like wow after seeing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi going nuts against me.
Pat Cummins
When was the last time Pat Cummins went wow while watching a cricket or IPL match. Like taken aback by what you witnessed in a fixture.Went wow? Probably seeing Sooryavanshi (Vaibhav) going nuts against me.You are one of the most successful leaders for Australia. Bowlers do make great captains right? Would you want to see more of that?The fast bowler’s always the smart ones, so it makes sense. I just think whether you’re a bowler, a keeper, whoever you are, I think your role on the team shouldn’t really matter whether you can be a captain or not.For example, when I’m talking about my own bowling and my own plans, a lot of times I gravitate to the other bowlers because they’ve got really good insight on how they’re seeing the game, so I think it’s a pretty natural fit for bowlers to be captains.
What aspect of Pat Cummins’ game do you find most impressive?
You have got a young family as someone constantly travelling and performing under pressure, how important is routine and balance in your everyday life?That’s the hardest thing about this lifestyle. I’ve spent a fair bit of time at home the last 12 months with my injuries, but they’ve come over to India, so our little four-year-old’s been to about 20 countries. You get very good at packing different bags and packing toys, but it’s fun. It’s hard work at times, but you always get home and you create some great memories.
