IPL 2024 Auction: "Pat Cummins Is Worth Every Cent" - AB de Villiers Rates SRH's Auction Strategy

Sunrisers Hyderabad created history in the IPL 2024 auction becoming the first-ever franchise to spend over 20 crores on a player in the auctions. Former South African skipper AB de Villiers feels that SRH had a terrific auction. They spent a humongous Rs 20.50 crore on Australian skipper Pat Cummins after they bagged opener Travis Head for Rs 6.8 crore. AB de Villiers was in support of SRH for going all in for Pat Cummins saying that the pacer will be worth every penny.

Sunrisers Hyderabad had a terrible outing in the last two seasons. They finished last on the points table in IPL 2023 and were lacking experience in the squad. AB de Villiers reckons that this time they focused on getting experienced players which can prove to be a game changer for them. De Villiers believes that Cummins and Head will bring a lot of experience to the squad.

“Yeah, I actually think that they have done the best job in the auction so far. SRH are right up there. If you remember the vicious season last year, they were one of my favourite teams, but they did lack a little bit of experience. And they certainly countered that now with Pat Cummins and Travis Head. And that’s exactly what they needed, they were very smart,” AB de Villiers said on Jio Cinema.

AB de Villiers said that Sunrisres Hyderabad was a young team and they lost their track in the IPL 2023 season despite boasting a strong line-up on paper. The former RCB player said that Cummins could really help in bringing some solidity to the SRH line-up and is a great addition to the squad.

AB De Villiers Feel That Pat Cummins Will Be Worthy For SRH

“They are still a young team, very talented, and now, along with the experience. Pat Cummins is worth every cent. He’s a leader. He can hold the bat as well, and he’s a great competitor with the ball,” de Villiers further added.

Sunrisers Hyderabad spent 30.80 crores in the auction to acquire six players. Four of them are experienced players while two are young talents. They got Pat Cummins for a whopping 20.50 crores and acquired Travis Head for 6.80 crores. They got Wanindu Hasaranga in a bargain deal for 1.50 crores and Jaydev Undakat for 1.60 crores. They spent 20-20 lacs each on uncapped Akash Singh and Jhathavedh Subramanyan.

The team now has a good bunch of overseas players with Aiden Markram expected to lead the side and Heinrich Klassen and Glenn Phillips to strengthen the middle order. Now with the addition of Travis Head, Pat Cummins, and Wanindu Hasaranga, the team looks very strong and can expect to have a better season than the last one where they finished last. SRH has not qualified for the IPL playoffs since 2020.

SRH Full Squad

Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, 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.