Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra was surprised by the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) decision to appoint Australian skipper Pat Cummins as their new captain for the upcoming IPL 2024.
Chopra argues that Cummins lacked strong T20 performances in recent times, especially when compared to the performances of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) former captain, Aiden Markram.
The much-anticipated decision by the 2016 IPL champions was confirmed on March 4 when Sunrisers Hyderabad announced Cummins, who was bought in the IPL 2024 auction for INR 20.50 Cr, as their captain for the upcoming season, making him their most expensive signing of the 2024 auction.
Cummins had a remarkable year as captain of Australia in 2023, when he won the World Test Championship, and the ODI World Cup and also clinched the prestigious ICC Player of the Year award.
Former India opener Akash Chopra highlighted the Australian skipper’s high run-conceding rate and poor batting show.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel: “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.”
The cricket expert continued, “He neither bowls in the powerplay nor at the death. If he is not going to do all those jobs, you are spending 25 percent of your overseas resources on a player whose place in the XI was not 100 percent 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.”
Chopra signed off by saying, “There is a player named Aiden Markram who benefited the SunRisers franchise a lot. He made the SunRisers Eastern Cape the champions for two successive years in the SA20 league. However, he has been removed from the captaincy here. He captained one year in total where I felt there was a lot of confusion.”
