NEW DELHI: It's
India vs Australia
, and the stakes in the
T20 World Cup
clash are incredibly high. The 2023 ODI World Cup final defeat must be on the minds of Rohit Sharma and his men. However, this time India have slightly upper hand as the Aussies will face the pressure of a must-win game in the 'Super 8s' match at St Lucia on Monday.
Australia suffered a 21-run defeat to Afghanistan in their 'Super 8s' fixture, jeopardising their chances of qualifying for the semifinals.
That thrilling contest has left Group 1 wide open, with none of the teams yet assured of finishing in the top two for a place in the semis.
T20 WORLD CUP: Schedule | Points Table
Ahead of the much-anticipated match, TimesofIndia.com caught up with the star Australian pacer
Pat Cummins
.
Excerpts...
In times of crisis, how do you boost the team's morale?
I think knowing the guys really well gives you a sense of what people need at certain stages. And that’s not just me. It’s not always just on me. We’ve got some wonderful senior guys who, if they feel like the dressing room needs something, they’ll step up and lighten the mood or have a serious moment or whatever is needed. So it feels like, between the coaches and senior guys, we can always self-adjust pretty well.
How would you describe Australia's aggressive style of cricket?
I probably wouldn't define the Aussie brand of cricket, to be honest. I'd probably define the team and the way that we want to go about it. And that’s just playing to our strengths. For some guys, that's being quite stoic, taking their time and wearing down the bowlers. For other guys, it’s the opposite; it's going out and taking the game on from ball one, putting the pressure back on the bowlers. So everyone in our team does it a slightly different way, but hopefully, when it comes to Test cricket in particular, we're relentless and having a bit of fun.
Talking about the ODI World Cup final last year, you guys never appeared to be under pressure, even in front of a packed stadium in Ahmedabad. How would you describe the journey to that title win?
There were so many different obstacles to overcome throughout that tournament. Even leading into the tournament, we had four of our main guys injured and (they had) hardly played a game leading up to that first match. So it felt like we were kind of putting out fire the whole tournament. There were injuries that popped up at different levels, along with issues of form and selections.
It all culminated in the final where, even when things hadn't gone right, we still found a way to win some games. I think that gave us a lot of confidence going into the final. We went in there with a sense of having nothing to lose and probably came together for our best game.
What is your approach and strategy as a captain?
I try to be quite people-oriented. These are some of my really good mates, and I've played a lot of times with them. So hopefully, I build really good relationships. Hopefully, they know that they've got my backing, no matter what, pretty much. Then, we collaborate and try to work together to achieve some special things.
Your take on docu-series 'The Test'..
I think we've seen with the first couple of series, how well-received they were by cricket-loving fans and even by the people who aren't necessarily cricket fans. People who don't know cricket or haven't watched much of it are being drawn into the sport through the documentary. We feel some responsibility to keep doing these series. The fans love it, and it brings more people to cricket, which is only a good thing.
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