Former Australia international Mark Waugh has raised question marks on Pat Cummins' future as captain mentioning that the latter doesn't look at his comfortable best as the leader of the pack when the going gets tough.
Waugh opined that Australia have been pretty fortunate in the ongoing Ashes series as they could have easily lost the opening Test at Edgbaston that went down the wire. He also felt that the visitors were lucky to walk away with a draw in the recently culminated Test at Old Trafford which was a rain-marred affair.
"I think in India we saw Pat (Cummins) struggle in a couple of Test matches, and then in this series, I think he's struggled nearly in every Test match," said Waugh to Fox Sports.
"We've got a bit lucky leading this series 2-1. We probably should have lost Edgbaston and we probably would have lost Old Trafford so that makes it 3-1 if things had gone normally," he added.
Waugh, a former selector himself, stated that Cummins has clearly struggled during the crunch moments in the ongoing marquee series. The 58-year-old also urged the selectors to take a call on his leadership future.
"I just think he's looked tired. He's looked frazzled. It's affecting his bowling, his captaincy, it's affecting his fielding. He's dropped catches, and you don't want that from potentially the best cricketer in your team.
"So I think moving forward they're going to have to think long and hard about this. Is Pat Cummins the right man for the long-term captaincy? Because when it's tough I don't think he is.
"I think he's OK when it's easy and he doesn't have to think too much, but it's a real question mark."
Junior as he is fondly called by his teammates also talked about how he feels the added pressure of undertaking a leadership role is hampering Cummins' individual performance.
" I think mentally he just looked burnt out in the field. There was so much pressure on him captaining the side and field placements and his own bowling suffered. He dropped catches in the field, he wasn't concentrating, he got out first ball with the bat on the second day.
"You can see it's affecting him and you don't want that to happen to Pat Cummins because he's a key player. You don't' want him burning out quickly," Waugh concluded.
