Image Credit- ICC
For Sunrisers, a new
leader and a new season have arrived. Although Sunrisers Eastern Cape won
back-to-back SA20 titles under Aiden Markram’s leadership in the first two
seasons of the competition, the management has chosen to turn the reins over to
Pat Cummins, their new record signing, in the wake of Sunrisers’ dismal
performance in the Indian Premier League 2023 (actually, the last three
seasons), where they won just four games.
Although Cummins captained Australia to two world championships last year—the
World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup—this will be Cummins’ first
captaincy in elite T20 cricket.
Wanindu Hasaranga,
the second-ranked T20I bowler, was also signed by Sunrisers for INR 1.5 crore,
which they would consider a steal. With Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Ahmed as
his fellow spin bowling all-rounders, Hasaranga is the third.
Not to be overlooked is Daniel Vettori, who took Brian Lara’s place as head
coach. For the Sunrisers, Vettori is the third head coach in three seasons.
When it comes to
international possibilities, Sunrisers have plenty of options. In the batting
area, they have Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Glenn Phillips, and Markram. On
paper, they have excellent all-around alternatives in Cummins, Hasaranga, and
Marco Jansen. It is possible to argue that all of them should be in the
starting lineup, however fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi is probably there as a
backup.
In terms of all-arounders, they also have a strong depth. In addition to
Hasaranga and Cummins, they also won Shahbaz in the auction, even though
Washington was already a member of their team.
The Sunrisers may
have to utilise one of their foreign slots on Hasaranga since they lack an
Indian spinner they can rely on for consistent wickets. Shahbaz is a good
all-around option and Washington is a potent powerplay bowler, but neither
player has ever claimed more than eight wickets in an IPL season. They may find
value in leg-spinner Mayank Markande, who claimed 12 wickets in ten games the
previous year.
They will also be looking for improved performances from their Indian batsmen,
who failed to score more than 300 runs in the previous season, including Mayank
Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, and Rahul Tripathi.
We now know that
Sunrisers will first play alternating home and away matches based simply on the
portion of the schedule that has been released thus far. Prior to playing the
Mumbai Indians, they must first travel to Kolkata. After that, they play the Gujarat
Titans in Ahmedabad before coming home to play the reigning champion Chennai
Super Kings.