Former Australian skipper Michael Clarke reckons that Pat Cummins has the potential to captain the national team across all three formats. Despite the Test series defeat to India on home soil, Cummins was named the Player of the Series.
The 27-year-old bagged 21 wickets with four four-wicket hauls as Australia went down against India. Clarke, who had led Australia to the 2015 World Cup, reckons that Pat has been someone, who has always put his hands up for his team in critical situations.
“Pat Cummins just showed us he’s ready. Whatever you throw at this Australian team and at Pat Cummins, he’s ready. He’s shown his character; the man of the series in a series that you just got beaten by, at one stage, India’s second-string team,” Clarke told Sportskeeda.
“Pat Cummins, he is the one player that did stand up for Australia, so I think we very clearly got a good glimpse at the type of character Pat Cummins is,” added Clarke, who played 115 Tests, 245 ODIs and 34 T20Is for Australia.
Current Test captain Tim Paine has been under scrutiny ever since he failed to successfully lead Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Having said that, Clarke thinks Pat is the apt candidate to replace the Tasmanian wicketkeeper-batsman.
Clarke, however, feels that Cummins, who is currently the no. 1 Test bowlers, need enough support from the senior members in the national team. So far, the lanky pacer has bagged 412 wickets in international cricket.
“If Pat Cummins is going to take over the captaincy, he’s going to need senior players like Smithy, like Davey Warner, like Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon; he’s going to need these guys to have his back as well,” he concluded.