Pat Cummins Or Aiden Markram? AB de Villiers Predicts SRH Captain For IPL 2024

When the Sunrisers Hyderabad take up the field next March for the IPL 2024 edition, they will be facing a dilemma as to who should be their captain for the new season, Pat Cummins or Aiden Markram. While debates would go on and on around it, Former South African explosive Batter Ab De Villiers believes it is not even a topic of debate.

For him the choice is easy. When asked about who should lead SRH in IPL 2024, De Villiers backed his former South Africa teammate Aiden Markram to continue as captain despite Hyderabad breaking the bank for 2023 Australian World Cup-winning captain Pat Cummins. The Orange Army head coached by Daniel Vettori relentlessly chased the Aussie right-arm pacer and splashed 20.50 Crores for the player, making him the most expensive player ever before Kolkata Knight Riders paid 24.75 Crores for Mitchell Starc.

Now as soon as SRH bought Cummins, debates unfurled over who should be the leading the pack next season and who should be trusted to guide the star-studded team towards their 2nd IPL trophy. Other than Cummins, SRH bought World Cup 2023 Final’s centurion Travis Head for 6.80 Crores, Sri Lankan All-Rounder Wanindu Hasaranga for 1.5 Crores, left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat for 1.60 Crores, Akash Singh and Jhathavedh Subramanyan for 20 Lakhs respectively.

On paper, SRH have a very strong side at its disposal filled with several talented players. With their core unit intact, SRH will just have to figure out the right combinations by integrating the recently bought players into the side. Last season, Sunrisers Hyderabad finished at the bottom of the points table under Markram’s captaincy, winning 4 matches and losing 10.

They will look to change the scenario this year and with their acquisitions, they may finish in the Top 4 for the first time since 2020.

“I Will Still Go With Aiden Markram As Captain”, Says Ab De Villiers

On the captaincy debate, Ab De Villiers has made it clear that Aiden Markram will do well as the captain of SRH this season. De Villiers believes that his former teammate has what it takes to become a true leader and with the type of squad Markram will have under him, SRH could be going all the way to the play-offs.

“I will still go with Aiden Markram as captain. I’ve played with this guy before. He’s got a very, very good leadership brain on his head. I think he’ll do better this season, and that’s it. And as well. And it has got a very good squad to work with.” – said De Villiers.

He also shared his opinion about the Sunrisers facing a problem for having such a star-studded squad, stating that Hyderabad has a very balanced squad. “I don’t think the eight overseas players that you’re talking about being big stars is a problem. I think they have a very, very good squad, very well-balanced. I think they’re gonna make the knockouts this year. I want my calls to go all the way and be there at the back end of the IPL.” – De Villiers concluded.

SRH Full squad for IPL 2024: Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram (c), 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.