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Ahead of his side's Indian Premier League (IPL) match against five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Pat Cummins opened up on leading a team in T20 cricket, something he has not done for Australia in international cricket despite an impressive resume as a leader.
SRH and MI will be taking on each other in their IPL 2024 clash in Hyderabad. Both teams started off with narrow losses of four runs and six runs to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Gujarat Titans (GT), respectively, in their campaign openers.
Speaking ahead of the match to the media, Cummins said, "I have not captained Australia in T20s and it is a bit faster. The IPL is a bit different as well, as it is more high-scoring when compared to different competitions in the world but it has been fantastic, especially with the bowling line-up. It was not too different from leading Australia."
Talking about the previous game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), where SRH fell just four runs short of the 209-run target despite a masterclass from Heinrich Klaasen (63 in 29 balls, with eight sixes), Cummins said that there were a lot of positives, with the team showing aggression and taking on some of KKR's bowlers head on, most notably Mitchell Starc, who played his first IPL matches in years and has a hefty price tag of Rs 24.75 crores.
"I think you look at the whole game and there are a lot of positives from the last match and it was a close one. I think we were aggressive and took on their bowlers with match-ups but fell short in a couple of areas. T20 will have games like that but we are really proud of ourselves because we nearly got over the line," said the skipper.
"Our bowlers were fantastic, particularly Andre Russell, who has a harder job in cricket. It all comes down to execution," the World Cup-winning captain said.
T Natrajan (3/31) and Mayank Markande were the top bowlers for SRH in the match. Russell smashed a hard-hitting 64 in 25 balls, with three fours and seven sixes, taking his side to 208/7 in 20 overs from 119/6 in 13.5 overs.
The skipper Cummins also said that batters Aiden Markram and Klaasen are top international players and the team wants to maximise its powerplay overs with top batters.
"Markram and Klassen are really classy international players and there is no doubt about it. We want to maximise the power play with the top guys," said Cummins.
He also noted that in the IPL, great teams try to make their home stadiums as their "fortress," and SRH will be trying to do the same.
"In IPL teams that have done well, you try and make home your fortress and we have some experience with our team who have played here. Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) has been playing for 10 years and knows the conditions well. We will use our experience and it's really important to win at home. The crowd is really amazing," said Cummins.
SRH had a bad season last time, finishing at the bottom with just four wins in their 14 matches. In their home run of seven matches, they just managed to win one.
Cummins went on to laud Bhuvneshwar, saying that the biggest plus for the team is the Indian pacer's four overs whenever they need him.
"Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar) is such a seasoned player and is amazing in all facets of the game. As a captain, I was really lucky to have that flexibility. If Bhuvi is looking to get some big wickets upfront, I can push him, and I can bowl some quality overs at the back end of the innings. The biggest plus is to have Buvi's four overs whenever we want him," he concluded.