'I just remember thinking geez..' - Pat Cummins opens up on burnout, agony and life's balancing act

Australian captain Pat Cummins revealed that he felt burnout due to too much cricket during his comeback into the Australian Test setup in 2017. The 30-year-old made his debut against South Africa in 2011 in Johannesburg. However, he played his second Test after a gap of over five years as his career was marred by injuries.

Recently, the fast bowler stated that cricket is happening 12 months a year, and he played non-stop for a year or two. Recalling his return to international cricket after a long gap, Cummins revealed that he felt burnout due to the packed calendar and decided to balance things out to elongate his career.

"Cricket's basically 12 months of the year, there's always a cricket game going on somewhere, and I played non-stop for a year or two," Cummins was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

"This is about four or five years ago, [when] I kind of just came back from injuries. And I was just spent, like burnout and I just remember thinking 'geez I'm 25 here but I want to do this until I'm 35' I've got to find a way to balance all these different things,” he added.

After opting out to play in IPL 2023, the star fast bowler began training a few days back to prepare himself for the upcoming Test season. Australia are set to lock horns with India in the World Test Championship 2023 final starting on June 7 at The Oval in London.

After that, Cummins will be leading his side in the first Test of the five-match Ashes series starting on June 16 at Edgbaston.

Cricket for Climate would love to go overseas, India, England: Pat Cummins

Apart from playing cricket, Cummins has also set up a foundation, ‘Cricket for Climate’ with an aim to reduce the sport’s carbon footprint. Talking about his initiative, Cummins said that he would take it overseas, like India and England, as there’s a lot of scope in making changes in those countries.

"We [Cricket for Climate] would love to go overseas, India, England, there's so much scope for making a change in those places. I try to do my little bit to normalise the conversation and make a bit of difference to make his [son Albie] future a bit better. I'd love to sit back in 10-20 years and just show the huge impact we've made,” he said.

Notably, the fast bowler ruled the Test bowlers’ rankings as he was ranked number one for four years from February 2019 to February 2023. Cummins is currently ranked in the third spot in the rankings with 841 rating points. The Australian skipper will look to regain his top rank in the upcoming season and also take Australia to the No.1  spot as well by beating India and England.