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Former England all-rounder Ravi Bopara expressed his preference for Australian 2023 World Cup-winning captain Pat Cummins to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, over South Africa's Aiden Markram.
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Under Markram's leadership, SRH struggled, securing only four wins and suffering 10 defeats in league matches in the previous edition of the glitzy league. Consequently, they ended at the bottom of the points table, missing the play-offs for the third consecutive year.
SRH's dismal show in the IPL 2023 led to significant changes, including the replacement of Brian Lara with Daniel Vettori as head coach in August this year. Vettori, who also works as the assistant and spin bowling coach for the Australian national team, has a close working relationship with Pat Cummins.
This connection was a key factor in SRH's aggressive pursuit of Cummins in the recently-concluded IPL 2024 auction. They successfully won the bidding for him with a hefty bid of Rs 20.50 crores, temporarily making him the most expensive IPL player until Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) outbid them with Rs 24.75 Crores for Cummins’ fellow Australian Mitchell Starc.
Apart from Cummins, SRH also signed Travis Head, the centurion of the World Cup 2023 final, for Rs 6.8 Crores, along with Wanindu Hasaranga for Rs 1.5 Crores, Jaydev Unadkat for Rs 1.60 Crores, and local uncapped talents Akash Singh and Jhathavedh Subramanyan for Rs 20 lakhs each.
Hyderabad's team appears strong and well-rounded on paper, making them contenders for their second IPL championship. However, choosing the right captain for the next season remains a significant decision. While some advocate for Cummins as captain, following his World Cup victory with Australia, others suggest continuing with Aiden Markram.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Times of India former English cricketer Bopara, who has earlier played for SRH, when asked about the captaincy, was upfront in naming Orange Army's skipper for the IPL 2024. He said that Cummins, given his recent ODI World Cup triumph, would be a perfect fit for the captaincy role. Notably, Bopara didn't mention Aiden Markram, who is still technically the captain of SRH, as no official announcement has been made about any leadership changes.
"He (Cummins) is an Australian captain and more than that he has guided Australia to the World Cup title recently. I am sure SRH will stick to Cummins to lead the side. However, for me, it is better to stick to a local captain because he understands the side and his team well. But because Cummins is coming after guiding Australia to the World Cup victory, he is also a good option,” Bopara told TOI.
It will be interesting to see whether SRH appoint Cummins their new captain after breaking the bank on him in the IPL 2024 auction or will stick with Markram.
SRH squad for IPL 2024:
Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram (c), Marco Jansen, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Sanvir Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, T. Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Upendra Singh Yadav, Umran Malik, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Pat Cummins, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan.
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