Irfan Pathan has raised concerns about SunRisers Hyderabad choosing Pat Cummins as the captain for IPL 2024, citing Cummins’ lack of T20 leadership experience. Cummins, who is the Australian Test and ODI captain, will take over from Aiden Markram, despite Markram’s successful captaincy with Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20 league.
However, Cummins lacks significant T20 captaincy experience in his track record at any level. Regarding Cummins being named SRH captain, Pathan expressed to Star Sports:
“When you talk about leadership, you wouldn’t want to think beyond Cummins ideally. Australia just won the World Cup under him; he’s performed really well in the last one and a half years. But the problem is that Cummins will look nice overall.”
“However, when it comes to T20 leadership, there’s nothing. His performance isn’t the greatest in T20 cricket and his IPL numbers aren’t decent either.”
“So there will be a challenge. What is SRH thinking? They’ve made a big move here. If Cummins is made captain, what about Markram? You gave him captaincy just for one year, so wouldn’t you want to back him? That is a big question,” he added.
While Cummins has effectively captained Australia in Test and ODI formats, securing victories in the World Test Championship (WTC) and the 50-over World Cup last year, his IPL performance has been challenging.
Throughout his career in the IPL, the 30-year-old has taken 45 wickets in 42 matches at an average exceeding 30 and an economy rate of 8.54.
“There are a lot of issues” -Irfan Pathan’s thoughts on the overseas players’ mix at SRH
Irfan Pathan expressed concern that SRH might face challenges in determining the optimal overseas player combination in the playing XI after appointing Pat Cummins as captain.
Alongside Cummins, the team added notable players such as Wanindu Hasaranga and Travis Head. SRH already had a strong overseas lineup, including Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen from South Africa, and Glenn Phillips from New Zealand.
“If they both play, [Wanindu] Hasaranga will struggle to make his place in the team. Even Marco Jansen could sit out because there are too many overseas players. So there are a lot of issues.”
“SRH need to figure out what they have to do because even Klaasen is an overseas player. And I want personally that Hasaranga becomes part of that Playing XI. Forget leadership, how will Cummins perform as a bowler? That remains to be seen,” said Pathan.
Following a notable streak of five consecutive playoff appearances from 2016 to 2020, which included winning the title in 2016, SRH has faced a downturn by finishing at or near the bottom of the table in the last three seasons.
The Orange Army is set to kick off their 2024 IPL campaign against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the iconic Eden Gardens on March 23.
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