Cummins picked his toughest opponents from seven major cricketing nations.
Australia’s ace pacer Pat Cummins recently named Cheteshwar Pujara as the "toughest" Indian player he has ever bowled to, comparing the experience to "death by a thousand paper cuts."
Speaking in a promotional video for Prime Video Sport, Cummins lauded the now-retired Indian batter's relentless grit, noting that Pujara would happily absorb pressure and face 100 dot balls without giving bowlers a single chance.
“India, I'm going to say, Pujara. Really hard to get out. Just like death by a thousand papercuts. Happy to face 100 dot balls if he wanted to. Not going to give you a chance,” Cummins said.
Pujara aggregated 2,074 runs in 25 Test matches against Australia at an average of 49.38, with 993 of those runs scored Down Under including three hundreds and five half-centuries.
In the same feature, Cummins went on to identify his toughest opponents across six other major cricketing nations, notably picking retired international stars.
When it comes to Pakistan, Cummins took the name of Saeed Ajmal, vividly recalling his struggle against the latter’s spin.
“Pakistan, Saeed Ajmal. It was like the last ball of the over; I walked in, Saeed Ajmal just goes, and I went, what? Clean bowled. I have never seen anything like that," he stated.
From New Zealand, the Australian Test captain named Brendon McCullum while his choice from England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies included Sir Alastair Cook, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chris Gayle, respectively.