Australian Captain Pat Cummins Takes Eight-Week Break to Prepare for Border-Gavaskar Trophy Battle

Melbourne: Australian Test captain Pat Cummins has decided to take an eight-week break in order to rejuvenate himself for the upcoming challenge of winning the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India later this year. After completing his maiden stint in Major League Cricket in the United States, Cummins opted to skip the white-ball tour of the United Kingdom next month to focus on managing his workload and enhancing his physical fitness for a jam-packed summer ahead.

“Everyone that comes back after a break is a little bit fresher, you never regret it,” Cummins was quoted as saying by Fox Sports. “I’ve basically been bowling non-stop since the World Test Championship final, nearly 18 months ago. This gives me a good seven or eight weeks completely off bowling so the body can recover, then you start building up again for the summer.

“It means you can hopefully bowl for a little bit longer, maintaining pace is a bit easier, makes you less susceptible to injuries,” he added. Cummins had a busy last 12 months after fracturing his wrist towards the end of the Ashes campaign in England.

He played in an ODI series against India, the triumphant ODI World Cup campaign, three Tests against Pakistan, two Tests against the West Indies, a T20 tour of New Zealand, two Tests against New Zealand, the Indian Premier League, the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the MLC tournament.

“I’m very sore today after a week of gym. Hamstrings, even ankles, kind of build up over months of bowling, but you can’t really nail it while you’re in the midst of the season,” the 31-year-old said. “I’ll be doing lots of gym, some running, a lot of rehab exercise that you just can’t really fit in the middle of the season.”

This year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be a five-Test contest. Since 2017, Australia has failed to lay its hands on the trophy, with India winning four consecutive series including the historic triumphs on Australian soil in 2018-19 and 2020-21.

And, Cummins is desperate to lift the trophy this summer under his captaincy. “It’s the trophy I haven’t won before… this is the one trophy a lot of our group haven’t ticked off,” Cummins said. “We’ve achieved some amazing things over the last few years as a Test group. You kind of back yourself to win every series at home. I think you need to try and be up there in the upper echelon of teams.

“That’s what lies ahead of us this summer. They’re (India) a really good side. We play them quite a lot, we know them really well, but we feel like we’re really well placed also,” he added. Meanwhile, Cummins is in no mood to quit T20 cricket as of now, and hopes to help Australia win the gold medal at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where cricket will make its debut at the quadrennial showpiece.

“Watching the Olympics, it got us all excited. You want to be part of it right there in the middle,” Cummins said. “I’d love to be on that side (at LA28). I think I’ll be 35 or something, so hopefully still there or thereabouts. “Honestly right now, it feels a long way away. Maybe once we get closer and start building into it, everyone gets a bit more excited,” he said.