‘I think he'll do a great job for Hyderabad’ - Steve Smith confident of Pat Cummins’ captaincy stint at IPL

The 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is looming on the horizon, with the marquee tournament all set to begin on March 2. many eyes are set upon Sunrisers Hyderabad and their newly-appointed skipper Pat Cummins, who was bought in by Hyderabad for a whopping INR 20.5 crore in the recently held mini-auction. 

Cummins recently led Australia to the ODI World Cup 2023 triumph, and his leadership skills will be something that SRH will look to utilise. The same was the thinking of veteran Australian batter Steve Smith.

In a recent interview, Steve Smith spoke about the leadership of Cummins, expressing his belief that his counterpart will do a great job for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.

"I think he'll do a great job for Hyderabad while working with Daniel Vettori (SRH head coach). They've got a great rapport as they had worked together in Australia when Dan was the assistant coach," Steve Smith was quoted as saying by India Today. "And yeah, he seems to play extremely well when he's got a leadership role as well. So, I am looking forward to seeing how Hyderabad fares this year."

It is worth noting that Cummins has previously represented Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, playing 42 matches in the tournament with 45 wickets to his name. Furthermore, with the bat, he has scored 359 runs with three half-centuries with a strike rate of 152.21.

Sunrisers Hyderabad look to improve in IPL 2024

Speaking of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s performance in the IPL 2023, the side had a season to forget in the 16th edition of the tournament. Hyderabad failed to make it to the knockout stages of the competition and even finished in last place in the standings. However, they will hope that the same will change in the IPL 2024, as they will kick off their campaign by taking on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens in the third game of the tournament on March 23.