(Reuters) – Australia captain Pat Cummins is expecting the upcoming series against India to be a survival of fittest as his team look to avenge consecutive losses on home soil when the two nations go head-to-head over five tests from late November.
The latest series begins in Perth on Nov. 22 with the Australians attempting to overturn defeats to the Indians in 2018-19 and 2020-21, when India edged a four-test series 2-1 with a three-wicket win in the final clash in Brisbane.
“The couple of home series I’ve played against India there’s always an element of attrition to them,” said Cummins. “The last series came down to the last session at the Gabba on the last day of the last test match.
“That’s a good thing to keep in mind. It is a long series, and it might be tightly held until the last game, so you’ve got to manage your resources throughout.”
It is almost 10 years since the Australians last lifted the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and Cummins will go into the series well rested having missed his nation’s recent white ball tour of England and Scotland.
The Australians will be without fast bowler Cameron Green due to back surgery and Cummins, who had injury issues earlier in his career, is backing the 25-year-old to return to the team in the future.
“We want him bowling, Cam wants to be bowling, and he has a long career ahead of him,” said Cummins.
“It’s about trying to place Cam the cricketer in the best position he can be to have the career that he’s hoping for. He’s young, so I’m sure he’ll be right in the long run.”
Cummins’ management of his own workload means the 31-year-old is hoping he can continue to captain Australia for longer than originally intended, having set 2025 as his intended cut-off when he was handed the role three years ago.
“Maybe I can go a little bit longer than I first thought,” he said. “I feel like I can manage a lot more than what I did back then, just by getting better at it and having some wonderful people around that help as well.
“I’m not going to do it forever, but I wouldn’t say it’s imminent that I’m going to step away. (2027) is the big question, but it’s a long way away.”
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Sam Holmes)
