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Australia captain Pat Cummins has admitted struggling to accept his mother's passing, describing his decision to travel to India for a Test series while she was undergoing treatment as the 'most difficult period of his life. Notably, Cummins' mother, Maria, succumbed to cancer last year.
“I knew when I was getting on that plane that I was going to have to come back in a couple of weeks pretty much,” Cummins said in an interview for the Imperfects podcast.
Cummins discloses his toughest phase of life
Cummins had been in India participating in a Test series, yet he chose to return home to support his sick mother during her palliative care treatment.
“Flying away... That’s the hardest time of my life, easily. I probably felt it in the 12 months leading in. Any time I flew away I was like, ‘Time’s finite here, I’m making a deliberate choice to go and play somewhere rather than spend it at home’,” he added.
Cummins mentioned that he aimed to maintain the privacy of Maria's last days and chose not to disclose to her the reason for his return home after participating in two Tests in India the previous year.
“But that time in particular – because we knew roughly the timeline, and knowing Mum and Dad as well; how much joy they get, sitting together, watching me play – that gave me enough confidence to go and play, and they were desperate for me to go and play, and I knew I could hop on a flight at any time and come back.
“But for those couple of weeks I was in India, especially now I look back on it, my mind was not in India, it was back home the whole time,” he said.
When Cummins mulled over quitting as Australia's captain
Cummins revealed there was a moment when he considered stepping down as Australia's captain, desiring only to be with his mother.
“I remember my manager and a couple of other people around me who I normally listen to were calling me and being like, ‘I think we need to give a little bit of a reason why you’ve gone home’, and I’m like, ‘Nah, don’t care’, and he’s like, ‘Nah, you’re getting a lot of heat here, you’ve got to explain yourself’, and I was like, ‘I honestly do not care what people think’,” he said.
“After about six or seven days when I knew I wasn’t going to come back to India, we said Mum’s in palliative care. But I literally could not have cared less what people were saying about me,” Cummins concluded.
Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have appointed Cummins as their new captain for the upcoming season Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Cummins, who led Australia to ODI World Cup 2023 title, was bought for Rs 20.5 crore in the IPL 2024 auction held in Dubai and is acclaimed for his leadership skills on the international stage.
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