Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 4 (ANI): Australia and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Pat Cummins joked about a viral video of him dancing to a Bollywood song, saying that it was his sister who dragged him to a dancing class and she is in “the bad books”.
Cummins had a stupendous Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season with SRH as a captain, leading his team to the finals, where they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on May 26. Cummins lifted the Orange Army from the bottom half of the table and changed their fortunes with a highly aggressive style of cricket, led by himself, openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma.
During the IPL, a video of Cummins dancing to Bollywood music went viral on social media. Noticing his dance steps, many fans joked if he was ready to conquer the world of dancing after winning multiple trophies in cricket as a captain.
Speaking about the video in an interview with ESPNCricinfo’s The Cricket Monthly, Cummins said, “My sister stitched me up. She dragged me to a Bollywood dancing class, and then posted a video (chuckles). So, yeah, she is in the bad books!”
“But no, it has been great (coming to India). I have been coming here for a long time. I probably embrace it (the culture) a bit more than I used to. That is always the joy of playing IPL – you play alongside guys who have lived here their whole lives, so I get their suggestions on where to go out for dinner or what places to go and see. It is been a thrill taking my family around this time in particular. It was the first time that they came over,” he added.
Cummins said that enjoying and embracing the local culture during foreign tours is a big part of a player’s life.
“Realistically, if you want to be a professional cricketer, especially an international cricketer, you are going to spend more time away than you are at home. So your options are: either stay in your room and wait for time to go past, or you get on the front foot and enjoy the time [going out] there. With the Aussie team, you will see us go out for dinners, go and play golf, and bring our families along. And it is the same over here in India [during the IPL]: bring families along, and kind of in between all the stress of the games and the playing and the travel, try and create some good family memories,” said Cummins.
Speaking about how much long it took him to gain the trust of his players as a captain, Cummins said that he does not want to prescribe anything about how he wants his players to act.
“I was really strong on [acknowledging that] we have got a group of really talented individuals and I just want them to be able to be themselves and feel like they are welcome, and hopefully we all feel some ownership in that environment and we try and foster that for new guys that come in. What you are seeing is not a deliberate, you know… how do I say it, persona. It is the boys just being themselves,” said Cummins.
Cummins said that having people thrive as individuals and letting them have freedom brings the best out of them.
“It also makes it a more enjoyable, fun environment. So there is a human-being element, but there is also a performance element, where that is where you get the best results,” he added.
Coming to cricket, Cummins will be in action during the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup in West Indies and USA, taking place from June 1 to 29. Australia has been grouped in Group B along with arch-rivals England, Oman, Scotland and Namibia. (ANI)
