How many Pat Cummins wickets do you remember from international cricket? Read on and we'll give you everything you need to know about Pat Cummins. The Australian bowler is one of the best players of his generation and ranks amongst the greatest Australian bowlers.
Born in Westmead, Sydney on 8th May 1993, Pat Cummins rose through the ranks to become Australia's Test captain. In his first Ashes as captain, Cummins led Australia to a 4-0 victory over their arch rivals.
Cummins has represented Australia in 175 international matches and has taken 400 wickets. The right arm seamer has arguably been the best pacer in Test cricket in the last half decade. He has picked 221 wickets from 50 Test matches at a magnificent average of 21.74. In the fifty-over format, Cummins has 124 wickets from 75 games at 27.61 apiece. T20s is his weakest format and he has played 50 games for Australia, claiming 55 wickets at 7.37 economy.
Now that you know the number of Pat Cummins wickets in each format, let's take a look at his journey and best performances in three formats.
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Pat Cummins Journey
Pat Cummins made his international debut in 2011 at an young age of 18 years against South Africa at Wanderers. It was an incredible debut as he became the fifth youngest player to take a five-wicket haul in a Test innings. He picked seven wickets on his debut as Australia clinched a thrilling two-wicket victory over South Africa.
Pat Cummins made his debut for New South Wales during the 2010-11 season and immediately made an impression with his speed and ability to move the ball and the Pat Cummins wicket tally soon started to climb. He was touted as the next superstar Aussie pacer but things didn't go as planned.
Injury setbacks and return
A young body could not withstand the workload that comes with being a fast bowler. Cummins suffered repeated injuries, mainly stress fractures in his lower back that derailed his career. He did not play another Test for the next six years, until the 2017 India tour.
The fast bowler missed some part of 2018 after the ball tampering saga due to a back injury but returned strongly in the series against India, which they ended up losing. Cummins was now in the best shape of his life and was operating like almost a robot.
Cummins soon achieved the No. 1 Test bowler ranking and was awarded with Australia's prestigious Allan Border Medal as the 2018-19 men's cricketer of the year.
The 2019 Ashes was perhaps the best of Pat Cummins as he ended up as the top wicket-taker of the series. While other bowlers were rotated around, Cummins played all five Tests and picked 29 wickets at 19.62 apiece.
With question marks over Steve Smith getting the full-time captaincy again, Cummins was the next in line. And his ascension came earlier than expected after Tim Paine stepped down ahead of the 2021-22 Ashes.
Best performances: Test, ODI, T20I
Patrick Cummins is one of the best of his generation and perhaps only India's Jasprit Bumrah pips him as an all-format fast bowler. The Australian has produced some unforgettable spells of bowling over the years. Let's take a look at some of his best performances in Test, ODI and T20I cricket.
Pat Cummins' best figures in Test cricket came against Sri Lanka in the Test of the 2019 series at the Gabba. He claimed 4 for 39 in the first innings as the hosts dismantled the Lankan lions for 144. Australia posted 323 in response on the back of 80s from Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head. Cummins was even better in the second gig as he ran through the Lankan batting unit. He bowled 15 overs and claimed 6 for 23. It remains his best bowling figures in an innings in a Test. Cummins bagged 10 for 62 in the match which is his only 10-fer in Test cricket, a performance where each Pat Cummins wicket made for spectacular viewing.
READ: Eng vs Aus head-to-head record
Cummins' second best match figures 9 for 99 came against India at Melbourne Cricket Ground in December 2018. This was also the game in which Jasprit Bumrah bagged 9 for 86 as India won by 137 runs. After conceding a 292-run lead in the first innings, Cummins bowled well in the second gig, picking 6 for 27. But in the end it wasn't enough.
In ODI cricket, Pat Cummins has best figures of 5 for 70 which came versus India at Mohali in 2019. But we wouldn't consider that his best performance in the format. He has several three or four-wicket hauls where he produced match-winning spells.
Pat Cummins relishes the challenge of the longest format of the game 👌
More ➡️ https://t.co/CLQaO46saQ #WTC23 | #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/Bmhx6y83bx
— ICC (@ICC) June 12, 2023
For instance, his performance against a formidable English side at Adelaide oval in 2018. England had won the series with an unassailable 3-0 lead and the Aussies were fighting to avoid a whitewash. Bowling first, Josh Hazlewood and Cummins gave a great start to the home side by taking 5 for 8 in the first seven overs. Cummins removed Alex Hales and Joe Root early and then Eoin Morgan. He conceded just 24 runs in his full quota of 10 overs and claimed four wickets. He was awarded the player of the match for this performance.
In March 2019, Cummins delivered another solid performance when they faced India at Nagpur. Although Australia lost by eight runs, his 4 for 29 in nine overs were the standout figures in the match.
As we mentioned earlier, T20s is the weakest format of Pat Cummins. Three of his top four T20I performances came before 2013. In September 2012, he picked 3 for 15 off his four overs against Pakistan at Dubai. Those remain his best figures in T20I cricket.
Apart from international games, Cummins has played quite a few T20 matches be it in the Big Bash League or in the Indian Premier League. He has 143 wickets from 128 T20s at an economy of 7.98, with best bowling figures of 4 for 16.
Pat Cummins Wickets: Career Summary
| Format | Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy | BBI | BBM | 5w |
| Test | 50 | 221 | 21.74 | 2.76 | 6/23 | 10/62 | 8 |
| ODI | 75 | 124 | 27.61 | 5.21 | 5/70 | 5/70 | 1 |
| T20I | 50 | 55 | 24.54 | 7.37 | 3/15 | 3/15 | – |
