Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has questioned Pat Cummins’ appointment as Sunrisers Hyderabad’s skipper for the forthcoming edition of the Indian Premier League 2024. Cummins was given the captaincy baton by the SRH management after they decided to sack former skipper Aiden Markram.
The South African was appointed as SRH captain for one season but didn’t get the backing despite leading Sunrisers Eastern Cape to back to back titles in SA20.
Meanwhile, the Australian Test and ODI captain was bought for a huge sum of INR 20.50 crores in IPL 2024 auction by SRH after a bidding war with Mumbai Indians. Cummins led Australia to glory in the ICC Test Championship and World Cup 2023, beating India in both finals.
However, Cummins doesn’t lead Australia in the T20I format and Mitchell Marsh recently led in the T20I series against New Zealand.
Irfan Pathan said on 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.
SRH has overseas players like Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Glenn Phillips, Pat Cummins, Heinrich Klaasen, and Aiden Markram and Pathan feels it will be pivotal for them to get their combination right.
“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.
Sunrisers Hyderabad will begin their IPL 2024 campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on March 23.
