Australia pacer Pat Cummins has ended 2019 as the highest international wicket-taker across formats with 99 wickets. The quickie has taken 59 wickets in Tests, while 31 have come in the One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and nine in Twenty-20 International (T20I).
Cummins’ national teammate and spinner Nathan Lyon, with 45 wickets, is second-leading wicket-taker in the longest format of the game. Indian fast bowler Mohammed Shami, on the other hand, has emerged as the leading ODI wicket-taker with 42 wickets in the calendar year of 2019.
Shami, with a culminating figure of 77 international wickets, follows Cummins as the second-highest wicket-taker in across formats. While the Australian has achieved his feat in 35 international matches, Shami took 28 games to get to his figure.
Cummins has been at the forefront of the Australian pace attack in 2019 and has emerged as their leading fast-bowler. The 26-year-old was at his usual best even during the Boxing Day Test against New Zealand where took a 5-for in the first innings at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Earlier this month, Cummins became the most expensive overseas buy and the second most in overall auction history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) by moving to the Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping sum of INR 15.5 crore in auctions.
The 26-year-old was always supposed to be in high demands but the bidding war that the franchises engaged in for him went beyond expectations athe IPL 2020 auctions, held in Kolkata on December 19.
KKR was the last entrant in the battle fought between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Delhi Capitals and roped their former employee in the slog overs with the record bid.
Also, following a jam-packed playing schedule in 2019, Cummins has decided to miss the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) as he will take a break after Australia’s three-game ODI tour of India in January.