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Pat Cummins would be ‘sad’ and miss the ‘theatre’ if SCG Test was Virat Kohli’s last.
Virat Kohli might have played his last Test for India.
Pat Cummins said it’d be ‘sad’ if the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy was Virat Kohli’s last Test series. He said more than stats, playing against Kohli has been about the ‘theatre to the game’ and the motivation to get him out which ‘goes a long way’ towards a win.
Kohli scored 190 runs in the five Tests at an average of 23.75. He got an unbeaten century in the second innings of the Perth Test but got out without crossing 50 on the eight other occasions, always getting caught behind the stumps and edging outside the off-stump.
Given he’s 36, it raised questions on whether he had enough in the tank to give Indian cricket or to work on his issues before the 2025 Test tour of England. Reports in India have said the BCCI will conduct meetings to decide on it when the team returns home.
“It’s always been a wonderful contest. More than just the runs that he scored, he brings a bit of theatre to the game which is sometimes good and sometimes it can rile you up as an opposition, which I’m sure is part of his plans,” Cummins told in the post-match press conference.
“Really enjoyed playing with him. You know, he’s been one of the star batters for the last decade or so. You know, if you get his wicket, it goes a long way to winning a game so yeah, it will be sad if it’s his last series,” Cummins added.
Even if Kohli pushes himself to bat another year or two, the next Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia will be played in 2027, which the former captain would almost certainly be unable to make.
With the 3-1 series win, Cummins won the only trophy he hadn’t, having beaten every other team in bilateral series except Afghanistan and Ireland.
“I didn’t know that we’d won kind of everything until half an hour ago but that’s always the aim,” he said. “One of the things I love most about test cricket is it challenges you in so many different ways. You need more than 11 players, you need an amazing squad, you need amazing support staff to be able to win everywhere in the world. So I think that consistency over a few years to do that with a very similar squad has been massive.”
- Location :
Sydney, Australia
