New Delhi, Mar 21 (IANS): Pat Cummins, the newly-appointed captain of IPL 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad, said he wishes to see a ‘really aggressive start’ to their IPL 2024 campaign from his side.
SRH were captained by Aiden Markram previously, but finished bottom of the points table in IPL 2023, returning with just four wins from 14 matches. But Cummins had a magnificent 2023, which boosted his leadership credentials – winning the World Test Championship (WTC), retaining the Ashes in England and claiming a record sixth Men’s ODI World Cup as captain of Australia.
In last year’s IPL Auction at Dubai, Cummins was roped in by the franchise for a whopping INR 20.5 crore, making him the second-most expensive player in the history of the league. Subsequently, SRH made Cummins its captain, making IPL 2024 the first instance of him captaining a T20 team.
SRH will be coached by Daniel Vettori, who works as an assistant coach for Australia, and knows Cummins very well. "I mean, the plans are (made) and I work really closely with the guys that I don't know too well and get to know what they need from me out in the middle. Then I work with coaches and what they want to see out of me as well as a player.”
"A bit of planning to go and then just want to get off to a really good start. T20s are hard. Kolkata's (Knight Riders) a good team, but I just want to see a really aggressive start to the season (from us)," said Cummins in a video shared by SRH on social media.
SRH will open its IPL 2024 campaign on March 23 against two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. It is followed by them playing their first home match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on March 27 against five-time champions Mumbai Indians.
"I think we've got a great mix. We've got a couple more experienced guys like Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar). Obviously, Aiden Markram was captain last year. But we've got some exciting young talent.
"I'm super excited to see guys like Abhishek (Sharma), Umran Malik, these kind of guys I've only seen a little bit of but super excited. So, I think fans should be pretty pumped for the season ahead," concluded Cummins.