"I just don’t think T20 is his best format" - Jason Gillespie questions Cummins' ability to justify ₹20.50 crore price tag in IPL 2024
Australia pacer Pat Cummins became the second-highest acquisition in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after bagging a deal worth ₹20.50 crore in the 2024 mini-auction on Tuesday.
He will represent the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), marking his fourth franchise in the league after the Delhi Daredevils (now renamed as Delhi Capitals), Mumbai Indians, and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Cummins has played 42 matches in his IPL career thus far, taking 45 wickets at an economy rate of 8.54. Strangely enough, he holds a batting record in the competition for scoring one of the fastest fifties.
The Australian Test and ODI skipper's last T20 appearance came during the 2022 T20 World Cup. He is bound to be in the scheme of things in the shortest format in the coming months, with the 2024 T20 World Cup scheduled for June 2024.
“Pat’s obviously a quality bowler and a quality leader, we’ve seen that, I just don’t think T20 is his best format. I think he’s a Test bowler, personally. I think Test cricket is his absolute bread and butter. He’s a good T20 bowler, make no mistake. But that’s massive overs for me,” former Australia bowler Gillespie told SEN Sportsday SA on Thursday.
Cummins skipped the 2023 IPL edition due to workload, which bore fruits in the longer run. Australia went on to win the World Test Championship (WTC) and the 2023 ODI World Cup under his leadership.
The pacer was expected to fetch a huge amount at the 2024 auction, but only a few anticipated a bid crossing the 20 crore mark. Four franchises entered the bidding war, only for SRH to make the winning bid in the end.
Cummins has been critical of his T20 credentials in the past
Cummins, with the red ball, is arguably one of the best bowlers in the world. However, his style of bowling is not suited to the shortest format, resulting in only glimpses of good performances.
He has improved his ODI death bowling, but it remains to be seen whether he can translate to the T20 format as well.
"I feel like I haven’t played a heap of T20 cricket, and in some ways I feel like I haven’t played my best T20 cricket for a little while,” Cummins said during the ODI World Cup.
Cummins will be next seen in action during the upcoming Boxing Day Test for Australia against Pakistan from December 26 onwards.
How will the right-arm bowler fare in the 2024 IPL season for SRH? Let us know what you think.