As expected, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have named Pat Cummins as their new captain. But this hasn’t gone down well with either the fans or the experts. Former India batsman and now a senior commentator Aakash Chopra has expressed his bafflement and shock at SRH replacing Aiden Markram with Pat Cummins as their main guy.
SRH had shelled out a huge amount – INR 20.5 crore – on the Australian pacer in the IPL 2024 auction. With less than three weeks to go for the IPL 2024 season to start, SRH appointed Cummins as their new captain, replacing Markram.
Markram led SRH last season but couldn’t take them to playoffs. However, Markram captained the Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) to two consecutive SA20 titles.
Pat Cummins neither bowls in the powerplay nor at the death: Aakash Chopra
Chopra mentioned that while Cummins was excellent as a captain and bowler in Tests and ODIs in 2023 – Australia won the WTC Final, retained the Ashes in England, and won the World Cup 2023 – he pointed out that Cummins didn’t even make it to Australia’s best T20I XI and his IPL bowling numbers are also ordinary.
In his YouTube video, Aakash Chopra said, “You have made Pat Cummins the captain but have you seen his recent IPL numbers? Check attentively, he concedes a lot of runs and doesn’t score that many runs with the bat. Only four overseas players play. He neither bowls in the powerplay nor at the death.”
“If he is not going to do all those jobs, you are spending 25% of your overseas resources on a player whose place in the XI was not 100% guaranteed in the IPL. That is why Pat Cummins is not the captain of the team where 11 Australians play, although he has won the World Cup, but not T20 [as captain],” Chopra added.
In 42 IPL matches, Pat Cummins has an economy of 8.5. However, he had a terrible IPL 2022 with the ball, where he leaked at 10.69 runs per over for KKR. Cummins skipped IPL 2023 to be fresh for the other two formats.
The IPL 2022 starts on March 22, and SRH’s first match is on March 23 against KKR at Eden Gardens.
Also Read: IPL 2024: R Ashwin Reveals A Very Interesting Character Trait Of Sanju Samson; VIDEO
