“Great to be here in Islamabad”: Pat Cummins expresses excitement upon landing in Pakistan for historic tour

Pat Cummins expresses excitement: The Australian Test captain will be playing international cricket for the first time in Pakistan.

Australia Test captain Pat Cummins has expressed excitement upon landing in Pakistan for the first time. Cummins, who has been playing international cricket for over a decade now, will be playing his first-ever international match in Pakistan next month. It was a chartered plane which has brought the Australian team from Melbourne to Islamabad.

In what is going to be Australia’s first away Test series in almost three years, it will also be the first away series for Cummins as a Test captain. While Cummins and his men would be banking on the confidence of beating England 4-0 in the recently concluded Ashes 2021-22, they will also be have to vary about the fact that neither of them has played Test cricket in Pakistan till date.

The Australian contingent will be always surrounded by security officials which will include thousands of police and military officials around the team hotel and stadium. In addition to being covered by army helicopters and snipers, Australian team’s travel will force the shutting down of roads and shops across Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi.

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“The squad will be given ‘head of state-level security’. Such arrangements are only made for high-level foreign delegations, [and] the president and prime minister of Pakistan,” a spokesman for Pakistan’s interior ministry told AFP.

Pat Cummins expresses excitement upon landing in Pakistan for historic tour

In addition to Cummins, Test vice-captain Steven Smith, batter Usman Khawaja, spinner Mitchell Swepson were among the Australian cricketers who uploaded social media posts upon reaching Islamabad.

In his Twitter post, Cummins acknowledged the warm welcome provided to him by the official Twitter handle of PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board).

In four Test matches in Asia (two in Bangladesh and India each), Cummins’ 14 wickets have come at an average of 29.71 and a strike rate of 60.

Readers must note that Cummins and teammates David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood will return home after the completion of a three-match Test series. The rest of the squad will be joined by white-ball specialists who will take part in a further of three ODIs and a lone T20I.