Cricket legend is shocked by the childhood injury that left Pat Cummins disfigured. Do you know what happened to the Australian skipper?
- Waqar Younis was stunned to hear that Pat Cummins had suffered a childhood injury
- The Australian bowler’s middle finger and index finger are the same length
- His sister slammed a door with his finger when he was four years old
The secret to Pat Cummins’ incredible bowling skills may be due to a childhood accident that left him with a short middle finger.
The Australian captain, 30, is arguably the best bowler in the world after being sold to the Sunrisers for $3.6 million in the IPL auction last week, while he sits third in the Test bowler rankings.
But long before he burst onto the scene as a prodigious 18-year-old talent, Cummins had something very different from his peers: a shortened middle finger.
He lost about an inch of his finger at the age of four when his sister slammed a door with it.
It means that the two fingers that are most important for his bowling action are the same length.
Pat Cummins has a unique quirk that is distinctly different from his bowling peers
Cummins is one of the best bowlers in the world and leader of the Australian team
Cummins has spoken about the incident in the past, but it remains relatively unknown to most cricket enthusiasts, including Pakistan legend Waqar Younis.
The former fast bowler was stunned to learn of Cummins’ quirk after being pulled for the middle finger by fellow commentator Ricky Ponting.
Cummins had just beaten Aamer Jamal’s bat with a poor outswinger when the pair discussed his bowling action.
“That’s another great skill from Cummins,” Ponting said after the delivery to Jamal.
“You can just see the seam angle there, the seam release there, that was an outswinger attempt, and he delivered it perfectly.
“It’s the impressive thing about these fast bowlers; every time they start a spell they are right on the money from the first ball.”
Jamal played and missed again, prompting Ponting, a close friend of Cummins, to reveal the details regarding his finger.
Due to a childhood accident, his middle finger became an inch shorter
Pakistani legend Waqar Younis was stunned by the little-known fact
“He had an accident as a child and he is missing a piece of his middle finger on his right hand,” Ponting said.
A bewildered Younis said: “There are so many different ways bowlers hold the ball. But it’s amazing how (Cummins), with that middle finger, he still gets that back spin on the ball.
‘That’s really surprising. And he also moves that index finger, he just keeps moving it. I don’t know if he feels he can get a good grip on it that way.
‘That’s really something unique, I didn’t know that. Wow.’