Australia opened their winning account in the ongoing World Cup with a comprehensive five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Monday (October 16).
Before the game, skipper Pat Cummins was under the scanner as the five-time champions got their campaign off to a terrible start, suffering crushing defeats at the hands of India and South Africa.
Australia failed to cross the 200-run mark in their first two matches of the marquee event. While they were bowled out for 199 in 49.3 overs against India, South Africa restricted them to 177/10 in 40.5 overs.
As a result, Cummins was facing flak for his captaincy and below-par showing. Amid the scrutiny, former Australia skipper Michael Clarke had claimed that Cummins won’t be considered in the playing XI for Sri Lanka.
"I heard last night that Pat Cummins is not going to be selected for this game," Clarke told Sky Sports Radio's Big Sports Breakfast in Australia. "If Pat Cummins is going to get dropped and not captain the team, then you guys have selected the wrong captain."
However, nothing of that sort happened in reality as Cummins led the Australian team against Sri Lanka and also returned with impressive figures of 2 for 32 in his seven overs.
After the game, Adam Zampa, who earned the Player-of-the-Match award his four-wicket haul (4/47), was asked about the chatter around Cummins' spot being under the scanner.
In reply, the leg-spinner dismissed such claims by saying that the team is behind the captain and they do not pay attention to what is being said outside.
"We all back each other 100% in this team, so I don't really know what's been said or what people are reading, but the only thing that I saw come on the WhatsApp group was the same 11 as last game. So yeah, there's no pressure on Pat there. As I said, we’ve got a really good feeling in the group in terms of backing each other, looking after each other. So yeah, I don't know who said that," Zampa said in the post-match presser.
He also called Pat Cummins' spell a game-changing moment for Australia. "I thought Cummins’ spell in particular was a bit of a game changer for us and even his energy in the field, the run out after the rain break, yeah, it changed the energy for us. And then once, you know, I was able to get a couple, we got on a bit of a roll and the energy changed in the group. So yeah, we needed that one."
Australia’s next World Cup match is scheduled against Pakistan in Bangalore on Friday (October 20).
