<p>Pat Cummins, the captain of Australia at the World Cup, was chosen captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday for the 2018 Indian Premier League. This makes Cummins the fourth player to hold the position in the last three years.</p>
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<p>The 30-year-old bowler became the second most expensive player in the history of the tournament when he was acquired by SRH for an incredible Rs 20.50 crore at the IPL auctions in December of last year.</p>
<p>He took over for South Africa’s Aiden Markram, who captured SRH in 2023.</p>
<p>SRH announced on social media, “Our new captain, Pat Cummins,” accompanied by a photo of Cummins.</p>
<p>Under Markram’s leadership, SRH won only four of their 14 league games to finish last in the 2023 season.</p>
<p>Although he is still on the team, Markram’s achievement of guiding Sunrisers Eastern Cape to the first-ever SA20 title this year did not help him keep the SRH leadership.</p>
<p>For the last three years, there have been alternate leaders for SRH.</p>
<p>It all started with the notorious 2021 drama involving the mid-season dismissal of daring Australian batter David Warner, who spent six years with the club and helped lead it to its lone championship victory in 2016.</p>
<p>In 2018 and 2019, Warner was substituted by Kane Williamson of New Zealand while serving a suspension for his role in the ball-tampering incident that occurred during Australia’s tour of South Africa.</p>
<p>The big hitter was a fan favorite at SRH when he returned to the role in 2020, but during the 2021 season, things started to go wrong between him and the club administration.</p>
<p>After SRH lost five of their six games in May of that year, he was relieved of his leadership. Later in the season, he was fired completely.</p>
<p>Williamson was given command of the team once again, and SRH barred Warner on Instagram.</p>
<p>When the contentious player attempted to greet his Australian teammate Travis Head on joining SRH in December of last year, this became apparent.</p>
<p>During his tenure, Williamson led the squad to an eighth-place finish in the rankings in 2022. Ultimately, he was cut from the squad.</p>
<p>This will be Cummins’ first season as captain in the lucrative Twenty20 competition; he has previously played for the Delhi Daredevils, renamed the Delhi Capitals, and the Kolkata Knight Riders. He has never previously served as a team captain in premier T20 cricket.</p>
<p>However, in his role as captain of Australia, he has accomplished great success, guiding the side to triumph over India in both the 2023 ODI World Cup and the World Test Championship.</p>
<p>Cummins has taken 45 wickets in 42 IPL games, with his highest bowling average in a game being 4/34. He has amassed 379 runs at an average of 18.95 with the bat, the highest being 66 runs without a run scored.</p>
<p>He participated in only one match for KKR during his 2014 IPL debut. After playing for the Delhi Daredevils for a while in 2017, he decided to skip the IPL for a while.</p>
<p>With an astounding price tag of Rs 15.50 crore, Cummins returned to KKR as the most expensive player of the IPL 2020 auction.</p>
<p>He stayed with KKR till 2022 and left the IPL in 2023 to concentrate on playing for his country.</p>
<p>He participated in the 2024 season’s auction and was the first player in IPL history to get a price of Rs 20 crore or more; however, KKR’s offer of Rs 24.75 crore saw him overtaken by Mitchell Starc, a member of his national squad.</p>
<p>Prior to the next season, SRH has appointed a new head coach in addition to changing captains. Brian Lara has been replaced by former captain and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori of New Zealand.</p>
<p>Aside from this, South African Dale Steyn will be replaced as SRH bowling coach by former All-Rover James Franklin.</p>
<p>On March 23, SRH will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the Eden Gardens IPL 2024 opener.</p>
