New Delhi: Prior to the World Cup in India later this year, Pat Cummins has said he might not captain Australia in every one-day international.
After the last Test, there will be a three-week relief for the Ashes' multi-format players, but it won't be long before focus turns to white-ball cricket.
The team for a T20I and ODI tour to South Africa is scheduled to be revealed immediately after the conclusion of the final Test in England. Three one-day matches in India will come right after that, and then it will be straight into the World Cup.
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After Aaron Finch announced his retirement in October of last year, Cummins was named the ODI captain. Cummins has only appeared in two of Australia's six subsequent matches in the format.
When Cummins was missing due to the loss of his mother, Steven Smith served as captain for the series in India while Josh Hazlewood filled in for one game against England.
Questions have been asked about whether the burden is manageable after Cummins' dismal performance as a bowler and captain at Old Trafford, but he is confident in how the job will develop over the coming months as the focus changes to different formats.
"I know the selectors have been really clear that I'm a bowler first in that team," he said. "So if we need to manage some of those games leading into the World Cup that takes precedence over the continuity of being captain every single game.”
"We'll manage that, but there's a great team around us of players and staff so while I'm the captain and it's a bigger workload it's manageable."
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It was an outlook flagged by national selector George Bailey when Cummins was named captain. "In our one-day team, we do feel like we've got some strong leaders, some really experienced members of the team, and some developing leaders," Bailey said. "So regardless of Pat being there, I think we are moving away from this concept of a captain taking over and their leadership being all-encompassing."
It is anticipated that Cummins will only serve as ODI captain till the end of the World Cup, after which the selectors may decide to unite the white-ball leadership under a single individual.
Finch's replacement as T20 captain has not yet been announced, so it's possible that whoever takes the helm for the team's three matches against South Africa will serve only as an interim leader until a permanent system is established later in the year in preparation for the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies.
In the meantime, Cummins is close to completing his two years as Test cricket captain, and when he was appointed in late 2021, he said he might not hold the position for as long as some. However, if he plays on for at least another couple of years, it would likely coincide with the beginning of the team's regeneration as veteran players start to retire, with a risk that a sizable number could go in a short period of time.
David Warner has stated that he will be leaving early in the following year, but Cummins is not in a rush to push others forward even though he is convinced that replacements will be there when needed.
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