Former South African captain AB de Villiers expressed his disappointment over Aiden Markram's removal as captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) ahead of the upcoming IPL 2024.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), who struggled to finish at the bottom of the points table last season, opted for a significant overhaul in their leadership and coaching set-up for the upcoming season.
In a surprising move, SRH appointed Daniel Vettori as head coach last year, and now they named Pat Cummins as their new captain ahead of the upcoming IPL 2024, starting on March 22. Notably, Cummins was signed by SRH for a staggering INR 20.5 crore in the IPL 2024 auction.
He was the second-most expensive player in the history of the IPL. De Villiers has now expressed his disappointment with Markram's removal from the captaincy, as he led SunRisers Eastern Cape to their second consecutive SA20 title last month.
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AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel: “There's reason for him (Pat Cummins) to be captain in that team, even though it's a bit of a surprise to most people, a bit of an upset to me perhaps to see Aiden Markram being moved across and sort of just had to make way for Pat Cummins there, even though Aiden Markram has won back-to-back SA20 tournaments.”
The former RCB batter said that Markram is a fantastic captain, but the SRH didn't give much time to the South African player. He added, “I think he's a fantastic captain, and they were just getting used to him as captain there at the SRH. So, it is disappointing to me, to him, and to all South African fans, but if it is for the best of the SRH team, then so be it.”
De Villiers also highlighted the Australian connection within the SRH camp, noting that their head coach, Daniel Vettori, is also involved with the Australian coaching staff.
He signed off by saying, “It's quite a surprise, but not a big surprise to me, thinking of the involvement of Daniel Vettori, who was with the Australian team. Also, we might see some involvement with Andrew McDonald. You just see a bit of an Australian flavour coming into that Sunrisers Hyderabad team.”
