ISLAMABAD: Australian Test skipper Pat Cummins on Thursday lavished praise on Pakistani authorities for looking after the touring team, saying being in Pakistan for the historic cricket series was “a great life experience.”

Pakistan and Australia will lock horns on March 4 for the first Test match of the full series between the two sides in Rawalpindi. Millions of fans in Pakistan and across the globe are eagerly anticipating the matches, which will mark the first time an Australian team plays Pakistan on its home soil in over two decades.

A deadly bus attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in 2009 isolated Pakistan from international cricket for over a decade.

The Australian cricket team are scheduled to play three Tests, an equal number of ODIs and a T20I match before leaving in April.

“This will be a tour, I think at the end of our careers, that we will look back on and think ‘Jeez, that was really special,’” Cummins said during a virtual press conference. “I mean, as much as we are looked after, with the security presence, we’ll probably never experience anything in our lives like that. It’s a great life experience, really.”

He added that the Australian team felt lucky to be playing in Pakistan after an entire generation of Australian cricketers were unable to do so.

When asked whether the Pakistan tour felt different from other tours, apart from the security aspect, Cummins responded by saying “not really.”

“We’re either at the ground or at the hotel,” he said. “But that’s not abnormal, especially during COVID-19 times. So, yeah, I think transport to and from the ground looks a bit different but overall doesn’t feel too different.”

“We are really enjoying our setup at the hotel and just excited to play cricket. That’s been the focus,” Cummins added.

The Australian Test captain, who led the current side to a 4-0 win over England in the Ashes series, said he wasn’t taking Pakistan lightly.

“We know what we’ve got to do. We’ve got a really good squad coming off some really strong performances but it’s foreign conditions so, you know, we will see,” he said. 

When asked whether an injury-hit Pakistan (missing the likes of Faheem Ashraf, Hassan Ali and Haris Rauf) would be easy to beat, Cummins said: “I’m sure it’s a big loss [the absence of Pakistani cricketers] but it is an opportunity for other players to step up … There’s always another guy that can step up.”

About the challenges Cummins was anticipating in playing cricket in Pakistan, he said pitches in the country were quite different from others in the subcontinent. He added, however, that the Rawalpindi pitch looked like “a good one” and sought comfort in the fact that statistically, pacers had done well at the venue in previous matches.

He said the Australian batters would have their work cut out for them.

“I think my message has been [to the Australian batters], compared to the Ashes series or probably the 10 Test matches, we have played, that this could be a real grind,” Cummins said. “There could be times when the scoreboard is ticking for just two runs an over and so our batting group has got to be prepared to, you know bat, bat and bat.”

Speaking a few minutes after Cummins, Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam said his side was excited to be playing cricket against Australia, deemed one of the best sides in the world today.

When asked whether the month-long Pakistan Super League T20 tournament would make it hard for Pakistani players to adjust to Test cricket, Azam replied in the negative.

“If we talk about fast bowlers, then where they were supposed to bowl four overs during practice, they were bowling six or seven to prepare for Test cricket,” he said. “Even the batters batted for longer durations [during practice]. The boys are prepared and they are ready. I am confident, I stay in the future. What happened in the past, is now in the past.”

The Pakistani captain admitted the side were facing some problems due to Hassan Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Haris Rauf’s absence from the team, saying Pakistan’s combination had been “disturbed”.

“However, we have planned against them,” he said, “and Insha’Allah, you will see us playing good cricket.”