After paying a whopping Rs 20.50 crore in the IPL 2024 auction, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) may just announce Pat Cummins as their captain for the 2024 season. The highly-rated international skipper has a strong resume to his name and has helped Australia retain the Ashes and win the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup in the last year itself.
According to Cricbuzz, SRH will announce Pat Cummins as their captain for the IPL 2024 season. The change will come due to SRH’s performance in the last two seasons and his involvement with Daniel Vettori, who is serving as SRH’s head coach and has been serving as Australia’s assistant bowling coach for a while.
Their current captain, Aiden Markram, has led the franchise in the last two seasons, but with minimal success. Under Markram, the franchise finished 8th in 2022 and showed no signs of improvement, ending 10th in 2023. However, the South African T20I skipper has found success in the SA20. Markram has led the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to consecutive titles in 2023 and 2024.
Aiden Markram vs Pat Cummins: SRH’s captaincy conundrum
Although Markram has led the Sunrisers to twin titles in the SA20, he has had little to no success in the IPL and international cricket as a captain. He has won just 4 matches (out of 13) for the Sunrisers in the IPL and has led South Africa in just 20 matches (ODI and T20Is combined).
Similar to Markram, Pat Cummins has not found much success in T20 cricket. The pacer has yet to lead the T20I side, with Mitchell Marsh currently helming the role. However, his international success and experience working with Vettori put him above the South African for the time being.