Cummins did what good skippers are expected to do

Pat Cummins has improved his already glowing reputation as an extremely competent captain of AustraliaIn a series where the pitches have been a somnambulistsrsquo dream Cummins has done what can only be expected of a good skipper Mostly by virtue of a declaration he has laid the foundation for victory in the final two games against Pakistan The demanding win finally achieved in the last Test gave Australia the victory and series win theyrsquod been valiantly seeking for 10 daysMost influential memberCummins has consolidated the theorymdashcharacteristically perpetuated by Mark Taylormdashthat the best Australian captains donrsquot crave the task rather it falls into their lap Some queried Cumminsrsquos captaincy credentials but they overlooked two important factors he was always a player who understood bowling and he was easily the most influential team memberIn the second aspect Cummins has once again excelled in being the equal most prolific wickettaker whilst doing so at comfortably Australiarsquos best average on really tough pitchesImportantly Cummins the leader ran the team and established a spirit that saw the side prepared to go into battle for the skipper They remained competitive throughout the final two matches despite the punishment required to keep the opposition on edgeAustralia were able to eventually find success thanks to the magnificence of Usman Khawajarsquos batting and the continual search for wickets that allowed Cumminsrsquos team to finally claim all 20 in a match The batting which held sway for the bulk of the series was dominated by Khawaja who Pakistan were unable to find a way to dismiss cheaplyDuring the demanding series finding a suitable method to swing the old ball reached the obsession stage It wasnrsquot until Nathan Lyon eventually unearthed a method for consistently dismissing batsmen on the final day that spin bowling took a front seatThe effort put into swinging the old ballmdashstrident shining and hiding of the deliverymdashposed the obvious question why not use a similar effort to provoke the new ball into movingAny successful efforts to swing the new ball continuously can help dispatch top order players surely the primary objective in the search for victoryWhile Australia have a couple of standouts in Cummins and Mitchell Starc in swinging the old ball there was little progress in the search for a second spinner to complement Lyon Australiarsquos inability to replicate anything like the success of the late Shane Warne highlights a weakness in the systemWarnersquos strength and ability to bowl long probing spells played a large part in his success Australia which used to be the envy of the world in producing good wristspinners needs to revise its vision in order to capture more Test wickets rather than rely heavily on containmentWhile itrsquos difficult to achieve much in this regard before the next tour of India a subtle change in Cumminsrsquos approach will benefit Australiarsquos new found confidence overseasIndiarsquos best balanced attackIndia at home have the best balanced attack where they still rely on spinners Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to complement a strong pace bowling lineup If Australia tend to rely too heavily on swinging the old ball to the detriment of seeking more traditional dismissals it will become a hard series to winWhile Mitchell Swepson displayed potential more has to be done to encourage his wickettaking instincts if hersquos to achieve success in India Wristspinners are in demand in T20 games where batsmen are expected to keep the scoring rate moving Captains like Cummins must expect good spinners to remove Test batsmen who are attempting to play a long inningsCummins has shown hersquos a good captain who learned fast in demanding Pakistan conditions Hersquoll be facing a much tougher team with a more cagey captain in Rohit Sharma when Australia next tours IndiaIndia will be a searching test of Cumminsrsquos leadership and a good guide to what Australia has learned under a Test captain on the rise