Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has picked Pat Cummins’ captaincy as one of the SRH’s strengths ahead of IPL 2025. He added that he was slightly sceptical about how Pat Cummins would manage the franchise, but he was proven wrong. Cummins took SRH to the IPL 2024 final after being bought for a huge ₹20.50 crore and being named captain. He was retained for ₹18 crore before the
IPL 2025 auction as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said, “Pat Cummins, the captain. I will put my hand up and say that I had a slight doubt how he would perform because his numbers weren’t very good earlier, and how would a captain manage a team if his numbers are not good. He showed that by doing it last year, scored runs and bowled very well whenever it was required. He has led the team beautifully. He remains absolutely calm,” he said.

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“They have two dangerous openers in Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, and since they felt they need to hit more, they have added Ishan Kishan to them. After that, Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy. It’s maybe the most explosive batting order in the entire IPL,” he observed. “Mumbai have the ability to hit like that, but these guys are dangerous. They have three left-handers and then two right-handers. So considering the batting till No. 5, they are a batting powerhouse,” he further added.

However, Aakash Chopra also shared that the SunRisers Hyderabad have strengthened their bowling for this season.

“After that, another strength which they have assembled now. It used to be a weakness earlier. You were searching for bowlers who would bowl with T Natarajan. Bhuvneshwar Kumar used to be there, but not the same thing. They didn’t have any spinners, didn’t have confidence in Mayank Markande. Then they were always struggling. Now then they have got Shami and Harshal. Pat Cummins was already there. I understand they don’t have Marco Jansen but they have an option in Wiaan Mulder. After that, they have two leg spinners, Rahul Chahar and Adam Zampa, and both might play. Now it looks like a solid team,” Aakash Chopra concluded.