Pat Cummins Breaks Richie Benaud's Long-Standing 63-Year-Old Record As Test Captain During WI vs AUS 1st Test
Australia skipper Pat Cummins has made history by surpassing Richie Benaud's long-standing record for the most Test wickets by an Australian captain. During the first Test against the West Indies, Cummins dismissed Keacy Carty on Day 1, leveling Benaud's tally of 138 wickets, before overtaking it with the wicket of Brandon King on Day 2, despite controversy surrounding the decision.
Most wickets for the Australia Test captain:
1 - Pat Cummins: 139 wickets
2 - Richie Benaud: 138 wickets
3 - Bob Simpson: 41 wickets
4 - Ian Johnson: 39 wickets
5 - Monty Noble: 31 wickets
Pat Cummins As Skipper
Cummins has led Australia by example in the last few years with two ICC titles under his belt. Apart from the ODI World Cup and the World Test Championship Match in 2023, Cummins has also been in charge of Australia's Ashes retention and the Border-Gavaskar series win at home.
Why This Matters
Benaud's record had stood since the early 1960s, cementing him as one of Australia's greatest all-round leaders. Now, Cummins has eclipsed this feat, underscoring both his leadership and bowling excellence across varied conditions and formats.
What Comes Next
Pat Cummins isn't just breaking records, he's rewriting captaincy standards for fast bowlers. With a growing haul, it'll be fascinating to see how far he can extend this tally, especially with Australia touring challenging venues like South Africa and India ahead.
Meanwhile, Cummins is now the second-highest wicket-taking captain in Test cricket. He has 139 scalps to his name as skipper and is only behind Imran Khan, who had taken 187 wickets as captain.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
39 minutes ago
- NDTV
"There Was Threat, We Weren't Allowed To...": Rohit Sharma On T20 World Cup 2024 Match vs Pakistan
Retired from two of the three formats, Rohit Sharma has now got the time to sit back, relax, and look back at some of his recent achievements in international cricket. Though the ODI World Cup dream still remains unfulfilled for Rohit, he did manage to lead the national team to the T20 World Cup 2024 and ICC Champions Trophy 2025 titles recently. These events also included some gruelling contests against Pakistan, India's arch-rivals. During an interview on JioHotstar, Rohit shared some intriguing details from India's T20 World Cup 2024 campaign, especially as the team was preparing for the match against Pakistan. "Before the India vs Pakistan match, we were told there was a threat - something was going on. So, two days before the game, we weren't allowed to step out of the hotel. The atmosphere started building from there," Rohit said on JioHotstar. Though Indian captains often dub matches against Pakistan as 'just another contest', Rohit admitted that the statement isn't really true. "We were ordering food in, and the hotel was so packed you could barely walk. Fans, media - everyone was there. That's when you realise this isn't just another match - something special is about to happen. As soon as we got near the stadium, it already felt like a celebration - Indian fans, Pakistani fans, all dancing and enjoying themselves," he added. "I've played so many India-Pakistan games now - I've lost count - but that pre-match energy, that feeling... It's always something else. Nothing compares to it," he further said. In the T20 World Cup 2024 clash against Pakistan, it was Rishabh Pant who scored 42 off 31 balls in an innings that saw the Indian team being dismissed for 119 in 19 overs. "We just wanted Rishabh to be Rishabh - do all the things he does best, unsettle the bowlers, play freely. And he did that perfectly. His innings was around 42, and on that pitch, that's as good as scoring 70." In the match, Jasprit Bumrah turned out to be the team's saviour again, with three wickets to his name, helping the team secure a 6-run win. "With Bumrah, you've got to be proactive in how you use him. He's a wicket-taker, and at the same time, he's not going to leak runs. So, how do you balance that, especially when the opposition is chasing at a run-a-ball? Arshdeep has been phenomenal too," said Rohit Sharma. "Over the last two years, there's a reason he's become India's highest wicket-taker in T20Is - he's a really smart bowler. So, with both of them, my focus was on how to use their remaining overs strategically," he added.
NDTV
39 minutes ago
- NDTV
"They Ruined November 19...": Rohit Sharma On Team India's Mindset While Playing Australia
November 19 is a date that most fans of Indian cricket do not remember fondly. After an invincible World Cup campaign, India suffered heartbreak in the final, losing to Australia on November 19, 2023. However, some months later, India exacted somewhat of a revenge when they defeated Australia in the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup 2024. Rohit Sharma, India's ODI captain, reflected on the feeling he had after the defeat in the World Cup final, and what it meant to beat Australia en route to the T20 World Cup title. Rohit pioneered India's victory over Australia in the T20 World Cup. Batting first, Rohit smashed 92 runs off just 41 balls, taking India to a daunting total of 205 in 20 overs. Australia ultimately felt 24 runs short, receiving a major blow to their semi-final hopes. Rohit looked back on his knock: "The anger was always there. It was in the back of my mind," said Rohit, in an interview with Star Sports. " Inhone hamaara 19 November kharaab kar diya, humaara nahi poore desh ka (They ruined November 19 for us. Not only for us, but also for the entire country). We should reserve something for them. We should also give them a nice gift. You have such thoughts in your mind," Rohit added. Rohit smashed Australian pacer Mitchell Starc for 29 runs in the third over of the innings. Starc was taken to the cleaners, being slammed for four sixes and a boundary in that one over. Rohit clarified that the idea of avenging their World Cup final defeat only happened before the match, and not while actually playing. "But when you're batting, you're not thinking, 'I want to knock them out of the tournament'. Yes, in the dressing room we keep talking about these things. There's that kind of fun that, yes, inko bahar karte hai, maza aayega (let's knock them out, it'll be fun)," Rohit said.
Hans India
an hour ago
- Hans India
Every Test like a knockout in WTC for Sri Lanka, says Dhananjaya de Silva
Colombo: Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva hailed the significance of the World Test Championship (WTC) after his side thumped Bangladesh by an innings and 78 runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) here to secure their first win of the current cycle. De Silva, reflecting on Sri Lanka's position in the global competition, acknowledged that with his team playing fewer Tests than most, every match takes on the feel of a knockout encounter. 'The WTC is like other World Cups — a lot of matches are like knockouts for us,' de Silva said after the victory. 'We've talked about how we win when we make the fewest mistakes, and we need those wins to get those extra points. In the last cycle, we made a few mistakes, and that's what cost us. Hopefully, we can correct that this cycle.' Sri Lanka, who are currently scheduled to play only a two-match series in this WTC cycle, relies heavily on the 'percentage of points won' system that allows teams with fewer matches to remain in contention for a top-two finish. De Silva underlined how the WTC had changed the mindset of his players. 'It's become a competitive trophy. We've even started thinking about our run rates in light of what's happening. The Championship is a great thing for Test cricket,' he said. 'We saw last time how well South Africa did and how they performed well recently, and they deserved to win it. They hadn't won an ICC trophy, and the Test Championship meant a lot to them. As a country, they can value that highly.' But while Sri Lanka's Test ambitions remain high, their schedule paints a stark picture — the team is not slated to play another Test until May 2026. For their red-ball specialists, this presents a unique challenge. 'We only have domestic matches,' de Silva said. 'Right now there's a One-day tournament, and after that, there will be a three-day tournament. There's also the National Super League. That's how we'll have to keep our form. Unfortunately, there are no Tests. We've made requests to SLC to play more Tests. I think they are talking about it with other teams. Even if we can play three or four extra Tests, we'll be able to continue the good things we're doing.' De Silva also shed light on the team's tactical evolution in the series against Bangladesh. Beyond scoring at a brisk pace, Sri Lanka's bowlers focused on building pressure with more maiden overs — an area the captain said they had specifically targeted. 'Whenever we come into a Test series, we have some key performance indicators,' he explained. 'One of the things we analysed this time was that our maiden percentage needed to be higher. So that's what we planned to do. We have to keep some pressure on the opposition in Tests, in order to get some wickets at the other end. I think our bowlers did that very well.'
