Cummins replaced Aiden Markram for the role, under whom the 2016 champions had finished bottom of the points table in 2023.
After captaining Australia to World Test Championship victory in June 2023, followed by retaining the Ashes in England and later leading them to the ICC ODI World Cup title win in India, Pat Cummins will now have a chance at adding the Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy to his illustrious resume as Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday announced the Aussie as their new skipper for the IPL 2024 season. Cummins replaced Aiden Markram for the role, under whom the former champions had finished bottom of the points table in 2023.
Australian captain Pat Cummins holds the trophy after winning the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, at the Narendra Modi Stadium, in Ahmedabad(PTI)
Returning to IPL after a year’s gap, which he took owing to his preparations for the ODI World Cup last year, Cummins was roped in by SRH in December, in the mini-auction in Dubai, for a record INR 20.50 crore, where the 2016 winners outlasted Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the intense bidding session. The Aussie all-rounder was the first-ever player to fetch more than INR 20 crore in an IPL auction, but his record for being the most expensive player in history lasted only an hour as Kolkata Knight Riders signed fellow Australia cricketer Mitchell Starc for a whopping INR 24.75 crore.
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2024 will be Cummins his seventh season in IPL. He was previously part of the KKR set-up, who had shelled out an incredible 15.50 crores to acquire him, which was the most expensive purchase in the 2020 IPL auction. However, Cummins failed to live up to the expectations of the price tag, especially with the ball, although he smashed a 14-ball fifty, the fastest in IPL history back then. He made his last appearance in IPL in 2022, where he played five matches picking seven wickets and scoring 63 runs only.
This will also be his first season as an IPL captain with SRH making the big call after Cummins’ dream run as a skipper and cricketer across formats. In the last nine months, he won two ICC trophies, both against India, successfully defended the Ashes and was named the captain of the ICC Test team of the year. His stellar run in 2023 was eventually rewarded with the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year.
Meanwhile, SRH’s captaincy call was a stern step towards Markram, who led their sister franchise, Sunrisers Eastern Cape to back-to-back titles in the SA20 league. Yet, the decision only seemed logical after SRH wrapped up a forgettable 2023 season, where they won just four of their 14 games, coupled with Cummins’ acquisition.
