Pat Cummins Breaks KL Rahul’s Record After Being Appointed As SRH’s New Captain For IPL 2024
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Star Australian pacer Pat Cummins, who is also the captain of Australia’s Test and ODI teams, was appointed as the new skipper of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Monday (March 4) for the upcoming 2024 season of the Indian Premier League. The 30-year-old pacer, who was signed for Rs 20.75 crore in the IPL 2024 auction last year by the 2016 IPL champions, has replaced Aiden Markram. Markram captained SRH in 13 matches of the IPL 2023 but was only able to win four matches.
He was expected to retain his job after leading SRH’s sister franchise Sunrisers Eastern Cape to the SA20 title last month, but it didn’t happen, and the Sunrisers owners chose to replace him with Cummins, who led Australia to the ODI World Cup as well as the World Test Championship title in 2023.
After being appointed as the 10th captain of SRH in IPL history on Monday, Cummins broke an elite record of star Indian batter KL Rahul. The right-arm pacer has now become the highest-paid captain in IPL history. Before him, the record was held by KL Rahul, who joined the Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 17 crore ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction and captained the franchise in IPL 2022 and 2023.
Virat Kohli, who is the highest run scorer in IPL history, also used to pocket Rs 17 crore as captain in the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 seasons of the cash-rich league. But unlike Rahul, he was retained for that amount by the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Before being signed for Rs 20.75 crore in the IPL 2024 auction by SRH, Cummins played in the IPL for teams like the Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils) and Kolkata Knight Riders. In 42 matches, he scored 379 runs and picked up 45 wickets. He holds the record for scoring the fastest fifty in IPL history by a KKR batter. During the IPL 2022 match against the Mumbai Indians in Pune on April 6, 2022, he completed his fifty in just 14 balls.