It’s not easy to faze Pat Cummins.

He assumed leadership of the Australian Test team in 2021 just days before the Ashes, after Tim Paine left the post in disgrace following a sexting scandal.

He was the first out-and-out pacer to be named captain of the Baggy Greens, assumed the role at a time of great unrest, and right before the biggest fixture in the Australian summer.

Under such mounting pressure, lesser individuals would’ve crumbled, but not Cummins.

He exuded quiet confidence in his first assignment as captain, retained the Ashes at home in thumping fashion, winning the series 4-0.

After that, he led a dressing room revolt against head coach Justin Langer, which led to Langer’s ouster; won the World Test Championship title in 2023, tamed England’s ‘Bazball revolution’ by retaining the Ashes in England in 2023 and then virtually ended it with a 4-1 thumping of the English in the 2025 Ashes at home.

And in between all this, he also led the ODI side to a World Cup title in 2023, beating India in Hyderabad in the final in front of over 100,000 heartbroken Indians in the stands.

Cummins has already done enough to reserve his place as one of the greatest Australian captains of the modern era, and he has achieved all that with an unflappable smile.

For a captain who has already achieved so much, a two-Test series at home against Bangladesh barely registered as a challenge.

The Australians rocked up for the first Test in Darwin with a full-strength squad, expected to roll over the South Asians who were here to play Tests after a gap of 23 years.

At the toss, the coin fell in Cummins’ favour. On a greenish top with moisture trapped in it, unleashing the legendary Australian quick trio of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood seemed like the obvious choice.

But Cummins thought otherwise, and signalled his side would bat first.

What followed was the greatest four consecutive days in Bangladesh’s Test history and four of the worst days of Australia’s.

At the end of it, Bangladesh stood victorious, with nine wickets in hand, while Cummins had no excuses after conceding the most unexpected defeat of his tenure as Test skipper.

On Friday, a day before the Mackay Test began, Cummins faced the press in a mandatory pre-match press conference.

In the last few years, Australia have turned it into a tradition of naming their playing XI a day before the match – a power move that displays the Australian team’s confidence no matter the opponent.

But when Cummins was asked about the composition of his XI for the second Test, he, surprisingly, did not have a clear answer.

"Trying to give it another day to see whether it's four quicks or a spinner," Cummins told reporters at the Great Barrier Reef arena.

In the last few years, very rarely has the Australian team not named their XI a day before a Test.

The few times it has happened, it did because the Australian management wanted to assess the fitness of an important player on the morning of the match.

But there are no injury issues in the Australian camp right now.

This indecision stemmed from the playing surface in Mackay, set to host its maiden Test. Its surface is expected to provide extra pace and bounce, prompting the Australian management to ponder bringing in Scott Boland in place of Nathan Lyon.

Soon after the press conference, however, Cricket Australia announced the playing XI, with opener Jake Weatherald getting replaced by Matt Renshaw and Lyon making the cut.

But this indecision, wanting to hold off taking the final call on the playing XI, indicates that the Australians are rattled.

The air of impregnability has been dashed; Najmul Hossain Shanto and Co have made the Australian team sit up and take notice, and no matter what happens in Mackay, Bangladesh have already done what very few have done in the Cummins era – have the Aussie skipper second-guessing.