When Patrick Cummins sneezes, Australian cricket catches a cold, and when Cummins has a bad back, the country wets the bed.

Australia can’t beat England without him, David Warner says with what appears an analytical expression.

Australia can’t beat England without him, Stuart Broad says with unbridled glee.

Can Australia beat England without him? Who knows? But taking a deep backwards dive into last year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, it’s harder to see Australia having beaten India without their captain’s contributions.

Last summer, the Australian Test cricket machine functioned about as well as it has in five years: hairy moments at the top of the order, but otherwise a strong 3-1 bounceback after losing the first Test in Perth. Cummins’ role in that series win, Australia’s first over India in a decade, tells us about the size and shape of the hole his absence would leave.

Cummins led the Australian bowling tally with 25 wickets at 21.36. His impact is better measured, however, in which batsmen he dismissed, and when.

Credit: Simon Letch

Given their own top-order troubles, the fulcrum of India’s batting was Rishabh Pant at No.5. Cummins dismissed Pant four times, more than any other bowler, twice when Pant was well set and building India’s biggest partnerships.

Cummins dismissed India’s two most reliable contributors, K.L. Rahul and Nitish Kumar Reddy, three times apiece. He also dismissed Rohit Sharma four times in five innings, ending his counterpart’s Test career.

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