Pat Cummins: From Championship Titles To Personal Demons, Inspiring Australia Skipper Conquers Everything

2023 will be remembered as the year of skipper Pat Cummins, as the silent, smiling Australian assassin guided the multi-time World Cup-winning side to numerous memorable championship title wins and concluded the year with a huge win over Pakistan in the Boxing Day Test, in which he also took a ten-wicket haul. The year is definitely not the one to remember for Cummins on a personal front, as he lost his mother Maria to breast cancer in March of this year.

But in what has been an inspiring story filled with passion for the sport and country, resilience, tonnes of mental and physical strength and determination, the skipper led from the front and made the Men in Yellow, the cricketing fraternity and most importantly, his mother, proud.

Here is a look at Cummins' 2023 at a glance:

Retaining the Ashes as captain

Having not won the Ashes in England since 2001, Australia headed to the UK with a lot of expectations and pressure on their shoulders. On the other side, a reenergized England was unleashing their 'Bazball' rampage on their opponents under the leadership of skipper Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

The first Test at Edgbaston was a thrilling encounter, with "ice in the veins" captain Cummins scoring a fighting 44* and stitching a 55-run stand with Nathan Lyon during a tense but a successful 281-run chase.

It set the tone for a highly competitive, intense five-match Test series that had everything from top performances to endless controversies and debates on 'Spirit of Cricket'. The series ended in a 2-2 draw and Aussies retained the Ashes.

Cummins starred in the series with 18 wickets, with the best figures of 6/91 and also made 162 runs with his bat in nine innings, worth its weight in gold.

Defeating India in