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Follow UsThe 20 crore-mark getting breached at the auction table is something that most — if not all — saw coming ahead of the IPL 2024 auction, but few expected Pat Cummins to be the first individual in IPL history to fetch more than INR 20 crore.
Admittedly, Cummins’ stocks were at an all-time high ahead of the auction, thanks to his stellar showing in the 50-over World Cup, but T20 was, by a distance, the Australia ODI and Test skipper’s weakest format.
On top of that, in his first six seasons in the IPL, Cummins had also hardly set the competition alight with his performances.
But for reasons only they know, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) did everything they could to secure the services of the right-armer, who at the time of his purchase became the most expensive IPL player of all time (INR 20.5 crore).
Maybe SRH knew something the rest of the world didn’t. It’s borderline impossible for a player to justify a price tag of 20.5 crore, but Cummins has done more than OK so far.
He’s been superb as captain, leading SRH to three wins in their first five games, but it’s his bowling that’s really stood out.
27 games into this season, which has proven to be an absolutely hideous one for bowlers, only three pacers have maintained an economy under 7.5 — Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and Pat Cummins.
That Cummins finds himself in the same list as Bumrah in a T20 competition is a huge win in itself for the Australian speedster, who in this IPL has been bowling the best he has in 20-over cricket.
Five games into SRH’s IPL 2024 campaign, Cummins has bowled the tough overs and has led by example with the ball. He’s been head and shoulders above every other SRH bowler and he’s done that while having little to no support from the other bowlers.
Especially the spinners, who have been a non-factor for the Orange Army, having leaked runs at an economy of over 10 while averaging 45.
So far this season, Cummins' E.R has been 7.3 when the overall scoring rate in the games he's played has been a staggering 9.93.
Not many — if any — foresaw Cummins being one of the best seamers one thirds into the season, especially considering his past T20 exploits, but the 30-year-old has gone up a level in this campaign.
And he’s done so by sticking to his strengths, which is hitting those hard lengths and making use of his height.
Five games into the season, close to 65% of Cummins’ deliveries in the IPL have been either on a good length or short of a good length.
And batters have found this length really hard to put away: in the 77 balls Cummins has landed in the 6m-10m mark, batters have been able to collect just 79 runs, which is a strike rate of 102.5. And many have also ended up losing their wicket while trying to take Cummins on from these lengths, evident by the average of 15.80 (a dismissal every 15.4 balls).
The interesting bit here is how nailing these hard lengths have made Cummins’ fuller deliveries hard to put away.
The Sunrisers captain, this season, has bowled 23 balls that are 5m or fuller and has conceded just three boundaries off these deliveries. He’s almost used the fuller balls as a surprise weapon, and this tactic has helped him outfox the batters.
Cummins’ lengths, then, have gone a long way in yielding him success this season. However, the biggest factor behind the right-armer’s success this season is not the lengths he’s been bowling. It’s a combination of his lengths and variations in pace.
At the 50-over World Cup in India last year, Cummins utilized to great effect the fully-developed off-cutter of his where he almost turns into a fast off-spinner while bowling the said delivery. It was with this very delivery that he tormented India in the final, drying up the runs completely by bowling to an off-spinner’s field.
It’s the exact same delivery that the SRH skipper has piggybacked on in the IPL this season to keep the batters in check.
27 games into the campaign, Cummins has bowled 35 off-cutters, which is second only to Mustafizur Rahman in terms of pacers. And he’s found enormous success while bowling these off-cutters, maintaining an economy of 6.90.
When it comes to off-cutters, however, it’s as much about the length as it is about the change in pace itself. Here’s where Cummins has been on the money.
More than 90% of Cummins’ off-cutters this season have been on a good length or shorter. Due to the ball losing all its pace after getting hammered into the surface, batters have found it extremely tough to put these deliveries away — evident by the economy rate.
Plenty of bowlers, including Jaydev Unadkat, Harshal Patel and Sam Curran bowl plenty of cutters but what separates Cummins from the rest is his ability to bully batters with his pace-on deliveries.
This season, Cummins’s average speed for pace-on deliveries have been 140.1 kph. He’s clocked speeds as high as 146.1 kph. This pace weapon he possesses in his arsenal makes it difficult for batters to simply anticipate the cutters and play him like a slower bowler.
The change in pace is significantly drastic too: when it comes to off-cutters, Cummins’ average speed has been 118 kph. But equally, he’s bowled off-cutters that have been as quick as 125 kph.
Coupling all this with the surprise element of ‘fuller deliveries’ (that we saw above), Cummins has been a very uncomfortable bowler to come up against because of just how dynamic he is.
For Cummins, this run of form might very well prove to be a mere purple patch; the bubble might end up bursting soon.
However, regardless of how long this run lasts, the evolution of Pat Cummins the white-ball bowler has been on full display during these five games.
For someone who six months ago was ‘not part of Australia’s best ODI lineup’ according to many due to his alleged one-dimensional nature, the 30-year-old has silenced his critics big time, first producing inspiring performances with the ball in the 50-over World Cup and then following it up with a stunning start to IPL 2024.
He’s settled all the ‘should Cummins play the T20WC?’ debates before they’ve even begun.
If SRH do go on to somehow win IPL 2024, then paying Cummins 20.5 crore at the auction table would have been worth it.
