Pat Cummins was named captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad for the upcoming Indian Premier League, on Monday, becoming the fourth player to be handed the responsibility in the last three years. The 30-year-old pacer was bought by SRH for a whopping Rs 20.50 crore at the IPL auctions, making him the second-costliest player in the event’s history. He replaced South African Aiden Markram, who led SRH in the 2023 season.
Former India player-turned-commentator and expert Aakash Chopra was not happy with the appointment, arguing that Cummins’s recent IPL numbers are not that good.
“You have made Pat Cummins the captain but have you seen his recent IPL numbers? Check attentively, he concedes a lot of runs and doesn’t score that many runs with the bat. Only four overseas players play. He neither bowls in the powerplay nor at the death,” Aakash Chopra said in his YouTube video.
“If he is not going to do all those jobs, you are spending 25 per cent of your overseas resources on a player whose place in the XI was not 100 per cent guaranteed in the IPL. That is why Pat Cummins is not the captain of the team where 11 Australians play, although he has won the World Cup, but not T20,” Chopra added.
