New Delhi: Australia captain Pat Cummins said winning back-to-back World Test Championship (WTC) titles will be an incredible achievement for his team, but that nothing can top their 2023 ODI World Cup triumph in India. Australia will lock horns with South Africa in the WTC 2023-25 final, which gets underway at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground on Wednesday, June 11.
Australia reached the final after bagging important series wins against India and Sri Lanka. Cummins & Co. thrashed India 3-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 at home before clean sweeping Sri Lanka 2-0 in their own backyard to top the WTC points table and book their spot in their second successive final. Australia will be aiming to successfully defend their title against South Africa.
“The ODI World Cup of 2023 is going to be hard to top, that’s number one for me,” Cummins said when asked if the WTC final victory against South Africa will be above the ODI World Cup triumph for him.
“But I do believe the (World Test Championship) mace is just below that in terms of you’re up against every other team in the world and you’ve been successful for a couple of years to make the final, so the mace means a lot,” added the Australia skipper.
Four months before beating India in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to win the 2023 ODI World Cup trophy, Australia defeated India by 209 runs in the World Test Championship 2021-23 final at the Oval in London to win their maiden title. Australia ended India’s hopes of qualifying for a third straight WTC final this year after thrashing the visitors 3-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
WTC final should be hosted by previous edition’s winner: Cummins
Cummins also suggested that the World Test Championship final should be hosted by the winners of the previous edition of the tournament. Two straight WTC finals have been hosted by England so far, and the final of the ongoing third edition of the tournament is also set to be played at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.
“Logistically, it seems like that’s probably the easiest way to have one venue,” said Cummins.
“It’d be nice, maybe the previous winner hosts that for the next time, or something like that. But as an alternative, I think having it at Lord’s every cycle is also a pretty good place,” he added.
Australia captain Pat Cummins believes Australia’s ODI World Cup victory in 2023 will be hard to top even if they win their second consecutive World Test Championship mace this year. Australia will take on South Africa in the WTC final on Tuesday. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
