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Pat Cummins Opens Up About Heartbreaking Ordeal: Balancing Mother’s Health and Playing Against India

As he alternated between playing a Test series against India and tending to his mother’s failing health, Australia’s skipper Pat Cummins shared insights into “the toughest time of life.” The Australian all-rounder Cummins lost his mother Maria to cancer last year, but before the untimely death, he was in India participating in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, a four-test series. A family medical issue—later identified as his mother’s health crisis—prompted Cummins to take a plane back home between the second and third Test. Although Cummins was supposed to return for the third Test, things were going to get worse when he missed more time than anticipated. Cummins was ruled out of the ODI leg as well on March 10 when it was revealed by the Australian media that his mother had died following a protracted fight with cancer. Cummins has always been motivated by his pride in representing Australia, but this was the one occasion when he wished he could have spent more time with his mother away from everything.

“I was aware that I would essentially need to return in a few weeks when I boarded that aircraft. Without a doubt, that was the hardest period of my life. I most likely saw it in the twelve months prior. In an interview with The Imperfects Podcast, Cummins stated, “Every 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.” They were itching for me to go play, and I knew I could take a flight at any time and return, but that one time in particular gave me enough confidence to go because we knew the general timeline and I knew how happy Mum and Dad are when they sit together and watch me play. However, throughout the few weeks I spent in India—especially now that I think about it—my thoughts were constantly at home.”

Wanted to go back and be a kid all over again: Cummins

Although Cummins is a three-time World Cup winner, a shrewd leader, and possibly the greatest captain in all of cricket’s formats, he became a different man after accepting the burden of serving his country and taking care of his family when they most needed him. According to Cummins, he was desperate to escape everything at that point, including the spotlight, the notoriety, and even Australia’s captaincy, and return to a simpler and more innocent era. “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’,” Cummins recalled.

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“We started Mom’s in palliative care after about six or seven days when I realized I wouldn’t be returning to India. However, I was utterly indifferent to the opinions that others held about me. Both Mom and Dad are quite private individuals. So I’m aware that Mum wouldn’t want any recognition at all. Most likely, that was the primary cause. However, my second want was to simply return to my childhood. Simply put, you’re simply a son, and nobody knows who you are.I recall thinking during those two weeks, “I don’t want to go play in front of millions of people and have everything dissected.” All I want is to be the child sitting there with his or her parents.” Sadly, Cummins’ mother was unable to witness his three greatest accomplishments as an Australia captain: winning the World Test Championship, the ODI World Cup, and the Ashes against England all in the same year.

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