Cummins backtracks on brave, bold Kohli prediction

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Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins has conceded that his claims that Virat Kohli would not score a century down under could be put down to wishful thinking.

Taking a page out of Norman Vincent Peale’s ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ Cummins said he expressed what he hoped might happen.

Cummins says that singling Kohli out was meant as a massive compliment to arguably the best batsman of his generation.

Speaking at a Channel 7 function Cummins had said: “My brave, bold prediction; I’d say I think Virat Kohli is not going to get a hundred and we’re going to knock them off over here.”

His comments spread throughout the cricketing world in a matter of hours drawing divergent responses.

Cummins has now said that he was surprised that his statement received the amount of attention it did.

The quick told Cricket.com.au: “I was surprised by the traction the comments I made about Virat got.

“I was almost trying to do the opposite to the way they were perceived. I was trying to pay him a huge compliment and say that my big wish list for the summer was he doesn’t score a hundred.

“He’s obviously so important to the team and is such a gun batsman, so him not scoring runs would go a long way to helping us win. But I certainly didn’t mean to say he’s no good because I couldn’t hold him in higher regard.

“Bruce McAvaney just asked me what my big prediction was that I’d like to see for the summer. And I just basically said ‘I’d love to see Virat Kohli not make a hundred because he’s a really good player’.

“The chances are he’s going to score a hundred against us again sometime and we’ll be doing everything in our power to try and stop that.

“It was just off the cuff. It was a pretty relaxed interview to say I’d love for him not to score runs, like I’d love any international player to not score runs against us.”

Cummins faced something of a social media backlash after the comments as India and Kohli fans gave him a piece of their mind.

The quick wouldn’t begrudge anyone their right to pop off on social media though.

He said: “Obviously you always get a lot of Virat Kohli and Indian cricket team fans on Twitter having their say, but it’s all good.”

Cummins said that his comments were off the cuff and not directed at Kohli as a tactic to throw him off.

He would add: “Virat’s a really passionate player and I’m sure he doesn’t need any extra motivation to go out there and put everything into what he does,” he said.

“I think we’ll leave that be … I don’t think we’ll be calling out anyone this summer. We’ll just hopefully take plenty of wickets and the other team will hopefully not score many runs.

“He’s similar to Steve Smith for us, he really gets himself into the contest and tries to find a way to fire up the bowlers. They seem to use that as a way to get the best out of themselves and I think that feeds off into the other players in the team as well.

“The captain and the best batsman is always the prized wicket and I’m sure it won’t be any different this summer.”

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