Pace ace Pat Cummins looks ahead to life with his family in a few years

There is no doubt in Pat Cummins’ mind about where his priorities lie once he leaves the sport in a few years — family. The Australian Test and ODI captain, back at the helm of a high-flying Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2026 after missing the first half of the season due to a rehab programme, says the day is not far when he is going to ‘live life’ with his family.

Speaking to Elizabeth Day on her podcast How to Fail, Cummins said: “I’m so crystal clear now on the family’s priority. I want to spend as much time as I can with my family. And you just can’t keep kicking things down the road. I think a lot of sportspeople, but maybe me in particular, think — okay, I’ll play cricket till I’m 35 or 36, Albie will be seven or six years old and then life will start, and then we can start hanging out as a family. I’ve definitely changed my mindset now. It’s like, no, I’m going to live life.”

“I’m going to say a big emphatic yes to things that we really want to do as a family. When we’re on tour, let’s make sure we have the time of our lives. We don’t just want to watch the clock tick by,” said the 32-year-old pace merchant, who may be looking at another three-four years of competitive cricket at best.

The Orange Brigade, now third in the season's standings, had been doing well even without Cummins as leader and Ishan Kishan in charge of things but then, as their bowling coach Varun Aaron says, the Australian’s presence as the leader of the bowling pack would make a difference at the business-end of the tournament.

A bit of a reluctant leader when he took over the captaincy in 2021, Cummins steered Australia through one of its most successful phases — including a World Test Championship in 2023 and the ODI World Cup.

Recalling his initial days as captain, Cummins recalled: “Just seen the previous few captains really go through the wringer. There are parts of the role that are obviously appealing — the esteem of captaining Australia — but parts of it that didn’t really appeal to me too much. So, in the end, I decided to go for it. But if it wasn’t to be and if it didn’t work out, I was very comfortable.”

The SRH captaincy since 2024 saw him liberating batters, and top gun Abhishek Sharma was one of the main beneficiaries of the new philosophy. “Marte hue out hona chahiye, darte hue nahi (get out trying to hit, not afraid to hit). I am fine with the team being 100 all out, but I don’t want safe scores of 160 or 170,” Abhishek said recently in an interview, echoing Cummins’ philosophy.  

Like a true leader, Cummins owned up after Kolkata Knight Riders snapped its winning streak with a commanding seven-wicket victory on Sunday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. SRH were riding high on a five-match streak as it marched into its den at Uppal to face KKR in match one of the Sunday doubleheader, but the Knights turned the tables in the reverse fixture.

Cummins admitted that his 27-run over against Finn Allen was too costly and they ultimately lost due to fine margins going against them. “Not our best day. We had a pretty good start, but then we weren’t at our sharpest. Probably aimed for 200 and then 180, but it wasn’t meant to be. You just need to adapt. The first 8-10 overs were excellent, but they used the match-ups well, and the second half wasn’t good. It dried up and slowed down; we probably should have aimed at 180,’’ he added.