Sunrisers Hyderabad made waves at the IPL 2024 auction by securing the services of Australian speedster Pat Cummins for a record-breaking bid of INR 20.50 crore. Cummins, the first player in IPL history to breach the INR 20-crore mark at an auction, briefly held the title of the most expensive buy until his teammate, Mitchell Starc, surpassed him with a whopping INR 24.75 crore bid from the Kolkata Knight Riders.
As the IPL season approaches, legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar has made a bold prediction regarding a potential change in leadership for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Aiden Markram, who captained SRH last season, led their sister franchise Sunrisers Eastern Cape to a title win in the SA20 inaugural season and successfully defended the title in the second season.
However, Sunil Gavaskar suggests that SRH might replace Markram as captain with Pat Cummins, who led Australia to a record-extending sixth ODI World Cup title in the previous year.
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“I think Pat Cummins was a smart buy, maybe a little over-expensive. A smart buy because he will bring the leadership aspect to their team, which was lacking the last time around,” stated Sunil 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.
Additionally, SRH bolstered their squad by acquiring Travis Head, the player-of-the-final at the 2023 ODI World Cup. Sunil Gavaskar sees Head as the ‘ideal No. 1’ in T20s and anticipates entertaining batting performances from him.
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“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,” remarked Sunil 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 concluded.
