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Irfan Pathan, a former all-rounder for India, offered his thoughts on SunRisers Hyderabad’s audacious choice to sign Pat Cummins, captain of Australia.
According to Irfan Pathan, SunRisers Hyderabad is probably attempting to take advantage of Pat Cummins’ recent achievements with the Australian squad.
In the IPL 2024 mini-auction, Pat Cummins, who is currently the second-most expensive player in IPL auction history, was purchased by SunRisers Hyderabad for Rs 20.50 crore.
He was also named captain of SunRisers Hyderabad for the next season of the competition.
Due to the team’s poor performance in the previous season while Aiden Markram was captain, the Australian pacer will take over for the captain.
Cummins has no substantial experience as a T20 skipper at any level. Markram won back-to-back SA20 championships with the Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
Irfan Pathan stated that SunRisers Hyderabad have bet on Australia skipper Pat Cummins’ momentum in an interview with Star Sports.
According to Pathan on Star Sports, “Sunrisers Hyderabad are taking a gamble on Pat Cummins’ momentum, which is especially good for him from the last two seasons, be it ICC 50 overs World Cup and WTC final and the way he is performing at an international level.”
As the captain of the Australian Test and One-Day International teams, Cummins has had incredible success.
Last year, he guided them to victories in both the ODI World Cup and the World Test Championship. In the two finals, Australia defeated the Indian cricket team.
The 30-year-old has struggled in the IPL, though, taking only 45 wickets in 42 games at an economy rate of 8.54 and an average of over 30.
He participated in the competition for the Kolkata Knight Riders team in 2022, which was his final appearance.
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Despite expressing reservations about Cummins’ IPL statistics—particularly his high economy rate—Irfan Pathan is still optimistic about progress. Pathan highlighted how T20 cricket is different from other longer formats.
“I think that T20 cricket is a different kind of game than 50 overs and test cricket, but my doubt is only there because his IPL numbers are not that great eight and half economy in the IPL which is quite high for a premier quality fast bowler.
Hopefully that can change in one season,” Pathan added. “Sunrisers Hyderabad will be hoping he can come and lead the side to the victory which they haven’t got for some time now.”
After winning a championship in 2016, SRH had a remarkable run of five straight postseason berths from 2016 to 2020.
However, the team has struggled in the previous three seasons. With just four victories from 14 group stage games, SRH placed last in the 2023 Indian Premier League.
Wanindu Hasaranga and Travis Head were among the additions made by the Hyderabad team.
With South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, and Marco Jansen, as well as New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips, SRH already had a strong foreign lineup.
On Saturday, March 23, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the Hyderabad-based team will play the Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening game of the IPL 2024.
