It's going to be weird looking across and seeing Starc in the other dugout: Pat Cummins

Australia’s pace battery Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins created havoc in the IPL 2024 auctions. While Kolkata Knight Riders inked Starc for a record-breaking INR 24.75 crore, Cummins joined the Sunrisers Hyderabad ranks for INR 20.5 crore. Though their fortunes have changed, Cummins has said that it would be weird to see his colleague in the opposite dugout when they vie against each other in the IPL 2024.

The Australia captain will not only play for SRH but he also assumed the leadership mantle from Aiden Markram. Coincidently, another Australian David Warner who was once a substantial part of SRH had led them to the championship title in 2016. On the other hand, Starc has been on and off when it comes to his IPL appearances. With the T20 World Cup 2024 beckoning, both the Aussie stars will see the cash-rich league as solid preparation.

"I will say this: hopefully I don't have to face Starc because that means our batters have done quite well. It's funny… it's one of the beauties of the IPL; I have been playing with Starcy for 15 years, [and] I can't remember another game where I have played against him. Also it's going to be weird looking across and seeing him in the other dugout. Yeah, being an opposition captain, seeing how we go about playing him will be an interesting part of tomorrow. But we're both bowlers, so I am not sure we'll cross [paths] too much.," said Cummins as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Cummins speaks on lack of experience in leading T20 side

Cummins’ captaincy reign with SRH comes with immense speculations as the World Cup-winning skipper has never captained a T20 side. Though he has led Australia to the World Test Championship tile, retained Ashes, and the 2023 World Cup, he has been a lone walker in the park when T20s are concerned. He admits his lack of experience in T20s and asserts that bowling four overs doesn’t put much on his body as he plays Test cricket majorly.

"Really excited, good to go. It's got its challenges. In that you play 14 games in six-seven weeks, plus finals. I'm used to playing a lot of Test cricket, so four overs isn't as taxing on your body. But it can be mentally taxing, the travel, obviously a different country, play a new team every few days you have to prepare for… But it's nothing new, we've done it before. Obviously, the game day is most important. That's what we put most days into. No teams play the same XI for all 14 games. I am sure we've got to call on our squad and we're lucky we've got a young, fit squad,” he added.