Former South Africa captain, AB de Villiers, shared his disappointment over Aiden Markram’s removal as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain before the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). SRH underwent a few changes in leadership and coaching roles for the upcoming season as well. Last August, they appointed Daniel Vettori as their head coach, whereas Pat Cummins was named captain earlier this week for IPL 2024 as well. However, AB de Villiers expressed his upset over Markram’s removal as a skipper but acknowledged SRH’s decision to appoint Cummins.

“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,” De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

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The former Royal Challengers Bangalore cricketer also added that while Pat Cummins is an excellent captain, the sacking of Aiden Markram was disappointing for him, and for all South African fans as well. However, he further added that if it helps the side then they should go ahead with it.

“I think he’s (Markram) 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,” he added.

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“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,” AB de Villiers concluded.