Cummins responds to Clarke's comments on Australia 'sucking up' to India

Right-arm pacer Pat Cummins has said that Australian players wanted to play a less aggressive brand of cricket in the series against India, after the repercussions of the ball-tampering scandal that hurt the image of cricket in the country.

Earlier this week, former captain Michael Clarke had claimed that Australia cricketers don’t sledge Indian captain Virat Kohli out of fear of losing their lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) contracts.

"I think probably a bigger factor was six months before leading into that Indian series the media and everyone commentating on the Aussie cricket team were pretty clear in their direction in the way they wanted the Aussies team to go and that was playing a little bit less aggressively out on the field," Cummins told the BBC. "I'd say that would have been a bigger factor than trying to win or lose friends out on the cricket field. But you never know, that might have been a factor for some players."

Cummins says he is prepared to play in the Indian Premier League behind closed doors as it would restore a degree of "normality" into daily life during the coronavirus pandemic.

The IPL season was postponed from March 29 until April 15 because of the pandemic, although the expectation is the tournament will be either delayed again or even cancelled should the lockdown in India be extended.

Another problem for Cummins and his compatriots is there are restrictions on Australians travelling overseas.

The Twenty20 competition is estimated to generate more than $11 billion for the Indian economy and involves cricket's top international stars like England's Ben Stokes, Australia's David Warner and Indian captain Virat Kohli.

"Of course, whatever it takes to try and get cricket up and play those big events safely," said Cummins in answer to whether he would welcome playing in front of empty stands. "The first priority is safety but the second one is getting back to normality. It's finding that balance. If that unfortunately means no crowds for a while then that's that but hopefully people can watch at home on television."

Cummins's outstanding 2019 was recognised on Wednesday when he was named one of the five cricketers of the year by Wisden.

"The first I heard about it was a couple of months ago," he said. "The award is held in high regard in Australia, I remember my dad and grandad talking about it. It caught me off guard to get it but I feel very honoured and privileged to win it. I had to keep it quiet, I hadn't told anyone."