Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has opened up on the captaincy debate at SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) ahead of the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). SRH, under the leadership of South Africa batter Aiden Markram, finished bottom of the points table last season with just four wins from 14 matches. Earlier this month, Markram captained SRH’s sister franchise SunRisers Eastern Cape to back-to-back SA20 league titles. However, SRH splashed Rs 20.5 crore on Australia’s World Cup-winning captain Pat Cummins during the IPL 2024 Players Auction.

Cummins was the most expensive buy at that time before Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bought his Australia teammate Mitchell Starc for Rs 24.75 at the same auction.

Cummins could replace Markram for the SRH captaincy, considering the amount of money splashed on him by the franchise. However, the 2016 champions are yet to make an official announcement regarding the same.

Gavaskar, however, is certain that Cummins will most likely lead the team instead of Markram.

“So now with Pat Cummins coming in, I am pretty certain that he will be the captain of the team and that will make a huge difference,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

Gavaskar highlighted Cummins’ leadership qualities, which he believes SRH were missing in the previous season of IPL.

“I think Pat Cummins was a smart buy, maybe a little over-expensive. Smart buy because he will bring the leadership aspect to their team, which was lacking the last time around. Last time around, some of the bowling changes that we saw in crucial games were just head-scratching, and that cost them matches,” he added.

Cummins had a sensational year across formats as he led Australia to the World Test Championship (WTC) title, as well as the ODI World Cup, beating India in both the finals. 

Cummins reflected on a successful year for Australian cricket and expressed his gratitude on being recognised as the best of the best in 2023.