Cricket fans divided as Pat Cummins caught in 'insulting' captaincy development

Cricket fans have been left questioning the Sunrisers Hyderabad after the Indian Premier League franchise announced Pat Cummins as the new captain for the 2024 season. The Sunrisers sent cricket fans into meltdown when they confirmed Cummins would be the most expensive player ever bought at the auction for $3.7 million.

However, only moments later in the auction fellow Aussie teammate Mitchell Starc broke Cummins' price tag. Regardless, Cummins will join the Sunrisers off the back of a stunning 2023 season.

Cummins captained Australia to the One Day World Cup title in India last year, which followed a World Test Championship trophy. And while he is the superstar of the Sunrisers team, and was expected to become the fourth captain in four years for the struggling franchise, it still hasn't sat well with some fans.

Last year, the franchise finished last under the leadership of South African T20 captain Aiden Markram. He has captained South Africa in 20 international games and despite the finish was popular among Indian fans. Unfortunately for him, Cummins has come in and taken the role off the back of winning the World Cup last year.

While Cummins has played in 52 international T20 matches, he has never captained the Aussie team. Markram has captained 47 T20 games and has a stellar track record at home with his domestic team.

Cummins has also struggled with the white-ball during his time playing in the Indian Premier League. Across 42 games in India, Cummins has taken 45 wickets with an economy of 8.54. While modest, in his last two seasons for the Kolkata Knight Riders he conceded on average 9.62 per game, while taking 16 wickets in 12 games.

Sunrisers fans divided over Pat Cummins captaincy call

There is little doubt Cummins has proven himself as a brilliant captain of the Australian team over the last few years. He is also arguably the best fast-bowler in the world. However, fans of the Sunrisers have undergone plenty of instability across the last four years. The team also saw David Warner axed as captain in 2021.

Their international recruitment in 2024, including Cummins, Travis Head, Markram, Marco Jansen and others will surely see the Sunrisers improve on last year's finish. But many felt it was 'insulting' towards Markram for the franchise to take the captaincy away from him after Cummins joined.

Aussie cricket great questions price tag on Pat Cummins

Cummins was for a short time the most expensive player in the history of the tournament, until that record figure was soon blown out of the water when the Kolkata Knight Riders paid a staggering $4.42 million for Starc. Although Australian cricket legend Jason Gillespie stuggested Starc could be worth the record-breaking figure having claimed Cummins was very expensive.

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"Pat's obviously a quality bowler and a quality leader, we've seen that ... I just don't think T20 is his best format," Gillespie told SEN Radio last year. "I think he's a Test bowler, personally. I think Test cricket is his absolute bread and butter.

"He's a good T20 bowler, make no mistake - but that's massive overs for me." Cummins' stats in the IPL perhaps back up Gillespie's concerns, with the Aussie skipper taking just seven wickets in five games for Kolkata in his last season in the competition in 2022 - having skipped this year's edition of the tournament.

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