What a year it’s been for Pat Cummins. He wins the World Test Championship, keeps the Ashes team, leads Australia to a sixth World Cup title, and now becomes the second most expensive player in IPL history at a staggering price. Sunrisers Hyderabad became the first team to breach the barrier $Margin of 20 Crores and bombing $Rs 20.5 crore to secure the services of the Australia captain. why not? Everything he touched turned to gold, and having last won the IPL title seven years ago in 2023, SRH will look to Cummins – likely promoting him as captain – to end their title jinx in IPL 2024.
Cummins, who broke England’s all-rounder Sam Curran’s record last year at $18.5 crore, was overjoyed as he reacted to the news of him striking gold all the way from Australia to Dubai.
“I’m looking forward to joining SRH in the upcoming IPL season. I’ve heard a lot about the Orange Army, and have played for Hyderabad a few times. I can’t wait to get started. Great to see another Aussie, Travis Head, out there,” Cummins said in a video shared by SRH on their official X handle. Their own: “I think we’re going to have a lot of fun this season and hopefully have a lot of success.”
Cummins sparked a bidding war between SRH and Royal Challengers Bangalore. RCB, who did not raise the paddle much in the first set came out with all their guns blazing. Maybe the team needs a new leader – Faf du Plessis is 36 years old – and he doesn’t have many seasons left. Set at a base price $2 Crores. Cummins shares rose rapidly as SRH and SRH outbid each other. The INR 10 Crore mark has been crossed in record time and Kavya Maran and Pramesh Mishra are competing for Cummins. The records set by Curran, Cameron Green and Ben Stokes last year, and the likes of Chris Morris, Nicholas Pooran and Yuvraj Singh, were mocked.
Surprisingly, Cummins was also the most expensive buy in the IPL 2020 auction, successfully fetching $15.4 crore from Kolkata Knight Riders.