Star Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins has been named captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of the forthcoming 2024 season of the IPL. Cummins, 30, replaces Aiden Markram at the helm with the franchise looking to head in a new direction post a forgettable last-place finish in the last season.
Cummins was the favourite to take over as captain after he was bought for a massive sum of INR 20.50 Cr in the auction. Daniel Vettori, SRH’s new head coach, works with Cummins in the Australian national set-up. Vettori, who was also tasked with finding a replacement for Dale Steyn (for the vacant bowling coach role), has picked former national teammate James Franklin to join the coaching set-up.
Even though Markram had led sister franchise Sunrisers Eastern Cape to back-to-back titles in SA20, the fact that SRH had a poor campaign in 2023 coupled with Cummins’ meteoric rise as a leader has forced the change in leadership. Under Cummins, Australia won the World Test Championship last year and then beat India in the final of the ODI World Cup as well.
This will be the Australian’s first stint as captain in the IPL. Previously, he has played for Kolkata Knight Riders. Even though he didn’t fetch a lot of success with the ball, Cummins did smash a 14-ball fifty, the fastest in IPL history at that point. He was the first player ever to fetch a bid of over INR 20 Cr in the auction before eventually getting purchased by SRH. That record bid was immediately broken by KKR when they signed Mitchell Starc for INR 24.75 Cr.
