CHENNAI: Australia skipper Pat Cummins said on Saturday his team are content go about their game “quietly”, in contrast to the ultra-aggressive style of earlier Australian sides.
Five-time winners Australia kick off their World Cup campaign against hosts India in a much-awaited Sunday clash in Chennai.
Australia have long been known to play an aggressive brand of cricket with on-field sledging part and parcel of their game, but Cummins and company have displayed a softer version.
“It’s more a reflection of who we are as a people. With every team you have different characters,” Cummins told reporters.
“Our guys are pretty chilled out, so I am always proud saying the players out there in the field are similar to who they are off the field.”
Asked about the in-your-face attitude of past greats, including the late Shane Warne and former captain Ricky Ponting, the fast bowler reflected on the team’s more restrained posture.
“Times change, that’s 20 years ago,” he said. “That doesn’t come naturally to our guys, we want to go about our work quietly.”
“I think you’re going to see some boys get fired up at different times. We’re all passionate. We’re all ridiculously competitive,” he said.
“So, I never really mind if a couple of our boys are puffing the chests out and getting themselves into the contest.” Foreign teams on Indian soil must also contend with the home side’s immense and impassioned fanbase, but Cummins said he was up to the challenge.
