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'Most Inspirational' - Chappell Lauds Cummins' Captaincy After World Cup Triumph 

image-lpp9ns04Pat Cummins became the fifth Australian men's captain to lift the World Cup (Twitter)

Australia's memorable ICC World Cup 2023 triumph on Indian shores continues to attract praise and great compliments towards skipper Pat Cummins, whose "inspirational" leadership and attitude were hailed by the country's former captain Ian Chappell. 

Chappell was highly impressed with Cummins' captaincy throughout the campaign in India as Australia initially stuttered through the league stage and overcame a close-fought semifinal versus South Africa before reserving their 'A' game for the summit clash in Ahmedabad against the Men in Blue.

Cummins took only 10 wickets during the span of nine matches in the league phase before delivering relentless and incisive spells of 3/51 and 2/34 in the business end of the competition against two of the strongest batting line-ups of the tournament. 

Chappell Lauds Pat Cummins' Captaincy 

Australia's sixth men's World Cup title win capped off a remarkable season for the team where they also clinched their inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) crown and drew 2-2 versus England to retain the Ashes under their terrific leader. 

"Cummins was always going to be a good captain. Overlooking for a moment the difficulties of being a fast-bowling skipper, he was easily the most inspirational player in the Australian team, and one blessed with cricketing common sense," Chappell wrote in his column for ESPNcricinfo.

Notably, Cummins only took over the reigns of the Australian team ahead of the 2021-22 Ashes series at home after Tim Paine's controversial exit from the scene. The tall speedster has since emerged as a resilient and defiant skipper for Chappell, who compared Cummins' journey with those enjoyed by other bowling captains like Imran Khan, Richie Benaud and Ray Illingworth. 

Chappell also appreciated Cummins and his troops for maintaining a perfect balance between aggression and sportsman spirits during their entire World Cup 2023 campaign and likened the man's fierce but calm zeal to that of legends Steve Waugh and Anil Kumble.