Sunrisers Hyderabad broke the bank when as they placed a jaw-dropping successful bid to land Australian Pat Cummins at the IPL 2024 auction held in December last year.
SRH, who finished at the bottom of the points table last season, splashed Rs 20.50 crore for Cummins as the pacer became the first player in IPL history to breach the Rs 20-crore more at an auction.
Also Read: Rahul’s Exclusion From 3rd Test Raises Uncomfortable Questions
He briefly assumed the spot of the most-expensive buy at an IPL auction before being usurped by teammate and fellow pacer Mitchell Starc who was purchased for Rs 24.75 crore by two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders.
Now, ahead of the start of the IPL season, India batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has made a bold prediction regarding the change in leadership at SRH who were led by South African Aiden Markram last year.
Markram was appointed SRH captain after he led their sister franchise Sunrisers Eastern Cape in SA20 to title win in the inaugural season. The 29-year-old proved the title win wasn’t a fluke as he led a successful title defense in the second season as well which concluded last week.
However, Gavaskar feels that SRH may end up replacing Markram as the skipper with Cummins who led Australia to a record-extending sixth ODI World Cup title last year.
“I think Pat Cummins was a smart buy, maybe a little over-expensive. Smart buy because he will bring the leadership aspect to their team, which was lacking the last time around,” said Gavaskar on Star Sports.
“Last time around, some of the bowling changes that we saw in crucial games were just head-scratching, and that cost them matches. So now with Pat Cummins coming in, I am pretty certain that he will be the captain of the team and that will make a huge difference,” he added.
SRH also added Travis Head, the player-of-the-final at the 2023 ODI World Cup, to their squad. Head scored a scintillating century in the title clash to lead a facile Australian win.
Gavaskar feels Head is the ‘ideal no. 1’ in T20s.
“Travis Head is the kind of batter who can take the game away from you. He did that in the World Cup finals. He is just the ideal No. 1 in a 20-overs game for the SunRisers Hyderabad,” said Gavaskar.
“So, he and whoever opens with him, whether it’s Mayank Agarwal or whether it’s Rahul Tripathi, who started as an opener and then went in the middle, if he comes in the opening slot again, then it will be entertaining batting for sure,” he added.
Comments
0 comment