After clinching the 2023 World Cup, Australia were also favourites in the recently completed T20 World Cup. Mitchell Marsh and Co. had an outstanding start to the tournament, winning all four matches in the group stage.
Things however, changed drastically in the Super Eights. The Mitchell Marsh-led side defeated Bangladesh by 28 runs in their first game but suffered back-to-back defeats against Afghanistan and India, which led to their shocking exit from the tournament.
Former Australian pacer Brett Lee shared his thoughts on why Mitchell Marsh led Australia in T20 World Cup instead of Pat Cummins. Lee said that Cummins wanted to take a break from captaincy, as it’s not an easy job. Leading a top-tier side in all three formats is demanding, and even though Lee isn’t sure of the reason, he backed Cummins’ decision.
He wanted a break: Brett Lee on Cummins
“It’s very hard for me to make a comment on that because I’m not around that inner sanctum. I don’t understand whether it was the call that Pat Cummings didn’t want to captain the T20 World Cup. I don’t know whether they wanted to go down a different road and maybe blood another younger guy in to Mitchell Marsh and maybe take the workload off Pat Cummins, it’s very hard to speculate,” Lee told CricTracker.
“But all I know is that when you do pick a captain, you have to back the captain 100%. He’s out there trying his hardest. The captain can’t always win the game. And I think that when you have had the success as Pat Cummins has had, though, he’s done a great job as captain and as leader. Maybe he wanted a break. But as I said, that’s just purely speculation. I don’t know anything else,” the speedster added.
