'I learnt a lot of things from Tim Southee' - Pat Cummins

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are blessed with three brilliant international seam bowlers in Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee and Pat Cummins. While Umesh and Southee have been exceptional for the Shreyas Iyer-led side in the IPL this season, the performance of Cummins in the initial games was underwhelming, to say the least. The Australian Test skipper went for 190 runs at a horrible economy of almost 12 in his first four games this season, which eventually led to his exclusion from the playing XI. 


However, the top-ranked Test bowler made a tremendous comeback against Mumbai Indians as he picked three vital wickets, conceding just 22 runs against the five-time champions in KKR's most recent encounter. 


In an interview on the KKR website, Cummins admitted to not being at his best in his first four games and expressed his happiness at finally contributing to the team's cause against MI. The fiery fast bowler stressed that he was toiling hard in the nets when he was benched and an injury to Umesh Yadav gave him the much-needed opportunity to prove his worth on the big stage. 

"I probably didn't bowl as well as I'd have liked to in those first four games. So yeah, good to get a go tonight. I was preparing, training, getting ready to be called upon if needed. And Umesh's injury presented a chance," Cummins said. 


Cummins said that being an experienced player, he is well acquainted with the highs and lows, and these things don't bother him much. The experienced Australian seamer highly praised the veteran Kiwi pacer Tim Southee for his incredible performances with the ball and revealed that he also learned many things from his Trans-Tasman teammate when he was warming the bench. 


"I think I've played enough to not worry too much about the ups and downs, especially T20 cricket", Cummins said. "The last few games on the bench have been a good chance to look at Tim Southee, who has been bowling fantastically well, so learning off someone like him and when I got my chance again just trying to be that little bit more disciplined," the 29-year-old concluded. 

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'It's hard not to take that to heart': Peter Handscomb on criticism in younger days

Australian wicket-keeper batsman Peter Handscomb made his Test debut against South Africa in November 2016 and made an immediate impact by hitting a half-century. In his first four Tests, he hit two centuries and had an average of 99.75. However, since then, he has featured in only 16 Tests and appeared last for the Baggy Greens in 2019. However, in his recent exploits for Victoria, he amassed 697 runs in the 2021/22 edition of Sheffield Shield, earning him a place in the Australia 'A' side which tours Sri Lanka next month. In a recent interaction, the 31-year-old revealed that he faced flak on various social media platforms for his batting style during his younger days. "I found those two platforms probably the worst in terms of people having direct access to you, to just randomly sledge you and take you down," Handscomb told cricket.com.au. The Aussie cricketer thinks it's pretty hard not to take that to heart when someone is calling you 'sh*t', questioning his selection into the Australian team. "When someone's taking the time out to directly message you, calling you shit or 'How dare you be in the Australian side' – that kind of stuff – it's hard not to take that to heart, especially (given) I was quite young at the time," he added. However, Handscomb reckoned that he got over the criticism during the 2017/18 edition of the Ashes. The middle-order batter further added that he would be better equipped to handle such things if he managed to play for the Australian team again. "I got off them during the Ashes (in 2017-18) and that was definitely one of the biggest things that helped," the Victorian suggested. "If that does happen again, and I am lucky enough to play for Australia again then, yeah, I think I'm better equipped to deal with everything that comes with it," he concluded. At present, Handscomb is leading the Middlesex side in County Championship Division II. In the latest outing, he scored 79 to help the team chase down the score of 370. After the culmination of the 1st half of this County season, he will depart for Sri Lanka to play a couple of one-day games and as many first-class matches for Australia 'A'.