Former South African captain AB de Villiers expressed his disappointment after Aiden Markram was snubbed as Sunrisers Hyderabad’s captain for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League after being at the helm for only year.

Aiden Markram led the sister franchise, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, to back-to-back titles in SA20 but has been sacked as a leader.

SRH decided to appoint Pat Cummins, who was bought for a whopping INR 20.50 crores in the IPL 2024 auction, as Orange Army’s captain for the forthcoming season.

AB de Villiers said on his YouTube Channel, “There’s reason for him (Pat Cummins) to be captain in that team, even though it’s a bit of a surprise to most people, a bit of an upset to me perhaps to see Aiden Markram being moved across and sort of just had to make way for Pat Cummins there, even though Aiden Markram has won back-to-back SA20 tournaments.

“I think he’s a fantastic captain, and they were just getting used to him as captain there at the SRH. So, it is disappointing to me, to him, and to all South African fans, but if it is for the best of the SRH team, then so be it.” he added.

The former Royal Challengers Bangalore batter added it is not a big surprise that Pat Cummins has been appointed as a captain. SRH head coach Daniel Vettori works with Cummins for Australia and AB feels it would have played a part.

“It’s quite a surprise, but not a big surprise to me, thinking of the involvement of Daniel Vettori, who was with the Australian team. Also, we might see some involvement with Andrew McDonald. You just see a bit of an Australian flavor coming into that Sunrisers Hyderabad team.”

Sunrisers Hyderabad will begin their IPL 2024 campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on March 23.