Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins downplayed his dream run as a captain ahead of the IPL 2024 final against Kolkata Knight Riders. On the eve of the summit clash in Chennai, Cummins talked out Hyderabad's sensational run to the final and their chances of winning the trophy.
Cummins, in his debut season as a captain, led SRH to the final with a dominant win over Sanju Samson's Rajasthan in the Qualifier. SRH will enter the final as second favourites having lost two times already this season but Cummins' record as a captain in mega events boosts his team's confidence.
Australia won the WTC 2023 final and the ICC ODI World Cup 2022, beating India in the final on both occasions, under Pat Cummins' leadership. The Australian pacer replaced Aiden Markram to lead Hyderabad in the 2024 season and delivered a never-seen-before aggressive cricket.
However, when asked about the team's chances in the final, Cummins said that his title-winning run would come to an end at some point but added that he would welcome another silverware.
"It would be great (winning the title) but the run's going to stop at some point," Cummins said in the press conference. "It's been a great couple of years, but I haven't captained any T20 cricket team before this series. So, I'm not too sure what to expect. It's quite fast-paced."
Cummins also highlighted that youngsters Nitish Reddy and Abhishek Sharma winning the games by themselves has been the story of Sunrisers Hyderabad's campaign.
"It's been huge. We have quite an experienced bowling line-up, including Jaydev Unadkat and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Also, so many youngsters have come through and have won us games by themselves, like Nitish Reddy and Abhishek Sharma. We also have guys who have been away from the Indian setup, but they have been fantastic. So, that's been the story of our team," Cummins added further.
Cummins has been in great form since his arrival at SRH with a hefty price tag of INR 20.50 crore. He has taken 17 wickets and has also contributed with a bat by scoring 112 runs at a strike rate of 147.36.