‘Pat Cummins has an agenda,’ – Mitchell Johnson makes serious allegations against Australian skipper
Mitchell Johnson, Pat Cummins (Image source: Twitter)
Former Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson has said that Test skipper Pat Cummins has failed his ‘big test’ as captain. Johnson slammed Cummins for not standing up enough for head coach Justin Langer’s extension. On February 5, Langer decided to step down from the role.
The former opening batter had coached the team since May 2018, and the team has managed to play the semifinal of the 2019 ODI World Cup, retained the Ashes in England and won the first-ever 20=20 World Cup last year. They recently thrashed visiting England in Ashes. His contract was due to expire in June this year and CA offered him a small extension till the 20-20 World Cup.
However, on February 5, he didn’t accept the short-term contract offered to him and left the job. “Justin was offered a short-term extension to his current contract, which sadly he has opted not to accept,” stated an official Cricket Australia release.
Reacting to the development, Johnson said that the current Test skipper is lauded as a saint but has failed his big test as a captain as he didn’t support Langer’s extension aggressively. Johnson also said that Cummins has an agenda and wants a coach of his choice, also calling him gutless.
“Pat Cummins has been lauded as some type of cricketing saint since his elevation to the top job this summer. Cummins might have delivered with the ball during the Ashes series, but he has failed his first big test as captain pretty miserably,” Johnson wrote in a column for The West Australian, as reported by Fox Sports.
“He had plenty of public opportunities to endorse an extension for Langer. So when he let it through to the keeper every time, it became pretty obvious he didn’t want it to happen. Cummins holds a lot of power and must have been central to what’s happened. He’s clearly had an agenda to get in a coach he wants. His recent interviews have been gutless by not respecting his coach when he could have been upfront from the start,” he added.
