Justin Langer believes huge price tag won't change Pat Cummins
The Australian players were in high demand during the 2020 IPL Auctions and it was an Australian who became the most expensive overseas signing in the history of the cash-rich league. Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders paid a whopping ₹ 15.5 crores to bag the services of speedster Pat Cummins. He has been in terrific rhythm since the last year or so and has been a consistent wicket-taker in all conditions and across all formats.
Australian head coach Justin Langer believes that a player like Cummins would never think of the price tag and won’t get bogged down by that burden. The former Australian opener is confident of the fact that Cummins will continue to bowl with hostility and maintain the form which has seen him rise through the ranks and become one of the best modern-day fast bowlers.
“You could pay him (Cummins) a $100 million, you could pay him a $1 billion, it’s not going to change him,” Langer was quoted as saying to Australian reporters on Wednesday. “They’re the sort of people you want in your team. You could pay him a billion dollars a day and it’s not going to change him. He just loves playing cricket, he’s an outstanding young bloke…it’s not going to affect him.”
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Meanwhile Langer is buoyed by the fact that the IPL stint will help all the Australian cricketers fine-tune their T20 skills ahead of two T20 World Cups in 2020 and 2021. Australia is slated to host the T20 World Cup in October 2020 while India will be in charge of 2021 edition.
“Ultimately it’s their decision as well, they play 12 months of the year now, you have to look at short term and long term, you certainly can’t begrudge anyone being in the IPL, but from a purely big-picture point of view from us, the fact they are going to play 10-14 T20 games, where we’ll play in two years, and with the World Cup [next season] that can only help their skills. Hopefully it’s a win-win for everyone,” he said.
While Cummins became the most expensive overseas signing ever, the other Australian players were not too far away. Glenn Maxwell who fought his way through mental illness returned to Kings XI Punjab for ₹ 10.75 crores. Nathan Coulter Nile, Marcus Stoinis, Kane Richardson and Aaron Finch was also in high demand during the auctions.