Australian skipper Pat Cummins landed himself a huge deal in the IPL 2024 auction becoming the second-most expensive purchase in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He was bought for a massive 20.50 crores and will represent the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in this season. This will be the fourth franchise for Pat Cummins in the IPL, the previous three being Delhi Daredevils (now renamed as Delhi Capitals), Mumbai Indians, and the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Pat Cummins last played a T20 game in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. He is bound to be in the scheme of things for the upcoming T20 World Cup in June next year. Cummins has played 42 matches in the Indian Premier League so far. He has 45 wickets to his name in IPL at an economy of 8.54. Pat Cummins also has a batting record to his name for one of the fastest fifties in the league’s history. He reached his half-century in just 14 balls while playing for Kolkata Knight Riders against Mumbai Indians in the 2022 edition.
However, Former Australia fast-bowler Jason Gillespie thinks that the T20 format is not the best for someone like Pat Cummins. He said, “Pat’s obviously a quality bowler and a quality leader, we’ve seen that, I just don’t think T20 is his best format. 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.”
Pat Cummins didn’t participate in the 2023 edition of IPL to manage his workload. It proved to be a boon for Australia and Cummins in the long run as they went on to win the World Test Championship (WTC) and the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 with Cummins as captain. The Australian skipper was expected to fetch a huge amount at the IPL auction. However, no one would have thought of a bid crossing the 20 crore mark. Four different franchises entered the bidding war and in the end, it was SRH to make the winning bid of 20.50 crore.
Pat Cummins Is Yet To Prove Himself In T20 Cricket
Pat Cummins is arguably one of the best bowlers in the world with the red ball. However, his test match lengths are not suited for the limited overs, especially the shortest format in which he had only shown some glimpses of good performances. He has definitely improved his death bowling in the ODIs but he still has to show his true calibre in the T20 format.
“I feel like I haven’t played a heap of T20 cricket, and in some ways, I feel like I haven’t played my best T20 cricket for a little while,” Cummins said during the ODI World Cup. Pat Cummins is currently leading Australia in a three-match test series against Pakistan where Australia have already won the first test. The second test will be played in Melbourne starting on December 26 (Boxing Day).
Pat Cummins has already led Australia to two major ICC trophies. If he gets a chance to lead them in the T20 World Cup 2024, he can be the first-ever skipper to lead his side to being Champions in all three formats.
