Picture of Pat Cummins celebrating KKR's IPL 2014 triumph with Gautam Gambhir and others goes viral ahead of 2024 final
Pat Cummins will be leading Sunrisers Hyderabad () against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2024 final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday, May 26.
KKR beat SRH by eight wickets in Qualifier 1 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, while Hyderabad clinched their berth by defeating Rajasthan Royals by 36 runs in Qualifier 2 in Chennai.
While Cummins will be playing against the Knight Riders on Sunday at the Chepauk as SRH look to lift their second IPL title, the Aussie star was a part of the KKR outfit when they won the trophy for the last time in 2014.
A picture of the current SRH skipper posing with the IPL 2014 trophy along with some Kolkata Knight Riders teammates has gone viral on social media platforms. Apart from Cummins, Jacques Kallis, Wasim Akram and Gautam Gambhir can also be seen in the picture.
Akram was the bowling coach of the franchise, while Gambhir was the captain. In an amazing coincidence, the latter was appointed mentor of the Kolkata franchise for the IPL 2024 season. He performed the same role for Lucknow Super Giants in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Speaking of Cummins, he played only one match for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2014 season, which was against Chennai Super Kings at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Cummins registered figures of 1-29 in four overs, which included a maiden. He got the wicket of CSK opener Dwayne Smith, whom he clean bowled for 5 off 6.
"Not too sure what to expect" - Pat Cummins on IPL 2024 final
Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders have been two of the best sides in IPL 2024 and have deservedly earned their place in the final.
As a captain, Cummins has been having an exceptional run. He led Australia to Test and ODI world championship wins last year. Under him, the Aussies also retained the Ashes.
The 31-year-old, though, didn't go overboard with expectations ahead of the IPL 2024 final. At the pre-match press conference, he said:
"It would be great (winning the title) but the run's going to stop at some point. 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."
On SRH making it to the final, Cummins admitted that it was a huge achievement. He went on to praise many players for performing a significant role in the franchise's brilliant run in IPL 2024.
"We have quite an experienced bowling line-up, including (Jaydev) Unadkat and Bhuvi (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."
Sunrisers Hyderabad won the IPL trophy for the first time in 2016 when they beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by eight runs in a high-scoring final at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.