PAT CUMMINS -- AN EXEMPLARY CHARACTER

Kajal Chaterjee

No kudos is enough for the Pat Cummins - led Australian team for winning the World Cup final by displaying impeccable character and professionalism at its best. What an extraordinary comeback despite languishing at the bottom half of the table during early stages of the tournament! 

 

 Apart from excellent piece of batting by Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne despite losing 3 wickets with the total being mere 47; the gentle behaviour, innocent smiles, humility and grace as displayed by the Aussies even after taking stupendous catches, crucial wickets or cracking flawless centuries need to act as an eye-opener for all students of the gentleman's game. What a drastic change from the earlier avatar of the Australians whose on-field behaviour with the Opposition had often been found to be ruthless! 

 

Probably Captain Cummins deserves the greatest credit for such a moral transformation for the better who is not only leading from front as mainline bowler, superb late order batsman (excellent piece of courageous batting against Afghanistan and South Africans in vulnerable stages) and shrewd leadership; but also with impeccable behaviour! 

 

 However the attitude of Cummins is hardly surprising, given his background of a warrior with a thing named heart. With Australia winning the Ashes following the final Test in Hobart in January 2022, the cricketers were posing with the Ashes 'urn' in front of the camera amidst a champagne shower. As captain Cummins noticed the absence of Usman Khawaja in the frame as the latter harbored reservations about alcohol due to religious sentiments, the former instructed others to put the bottle away and invited him to join the whole team in the celebrations ! And now the frame has no trace of champagne bottles, rather Khawaja is being seen to be embraced right in the middle of the front row just beside the captain with all heartily laughing and sharing the joy unitedly ! Can there be any better picture of divinity, humanity and brotherhood in these communally-vitiated times where feelings of hatred with dominant mindset have been turned into a synonym of "masculinity" and "nationalism"!

 

 This attitude of rising above petty barriers of ethnicity, race, religion, color and country/continent of origin transmit a strong message that national unity cannot( as well as should not ) be pursued through dominance of majority by usurping the identities of minorities so as to make a "homogeneous whole"; rather national cohesion needs to pursued through sincere nurturing of heterogeneity where irrespective of numerical strength, people of all demographic backgrounds can enjoy equality in all respects right from honour dignity work opportunity to pursuance of respective culture with head held high.  After all these form the noble demand of democracy and ultimate humanity. Yes, democracy does not mean "dominance of majority" by overriding sentiments of minorities; rather it's essence lies embedded in "equality of all" with sentiments of all sections or even a single minority being adhered to. And to achieve such a humanitarian goal, even a brute numerical majority should also have to compromise a bit as gallantly done by the White cricketing members of Team Australia after that Ashes victory. 

 

Lots of thanks to Pat Cummins for helping the team to attain moral height as well which has a positive reflection within the field as well in terms of performance and behaviour; thereby providing us a nice educative entertainment in the World Cup which every genuine cricket lover, irrespective of national affiliation, would not hesitate to acknowledge.