Ranking the 3 best overseas combinations for SRH for IPL 2024
By signing Pat Cummins for the second-biggest fee ever in the IPL 2024 auction and now making him captain, SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) have put themselves in an interesting position, to say it mildly.
For starters, Cummins is an excellent captain with a record as good as any in Tests and ODIs. But there's a reason why, despite his achievements, Australia didn't give him the armband in the shortest format.
Four of his last six T20Is came at the 2022 T20 World Cup. It has been ages since he last featured in a domestic T20, let alone captaining a team. He's a brilliant all-rounder, as he has shown in patches for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), but is he a sure-shot starter?
The answer is probably no if you look at SRH's other overseas options: Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, Glenn Phillips, Wanindu Hasaranga, Marco Jansen, Fazalhaq Farooqi, and Jhathavedh Subramanyan.
All of them are class T20 players, with an unbelievable bank of experience, playing a variety of specialist and non-specialist roles in the team. One of them will have to sit out for a bowler who didn't play a single T20 in 2023.
But by choosing Cummins, SRH have made our task easier. We have picked the three best overseas combinations for IPL 2024 and now two spots are sealed. Read on to find out who, according to us, are the best of the rest.
#1 Pat Cummins (C), Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Travis Head and Wanindu Hasaranga
Alongside Cummins, South African wicketkeeper-batter Klaasen will feature on this list. Alongside Suryakumar Yadav, he has been by far the best batter in the shortest format in the world in the last two years. He has averaged more than 40 and struck at a rate of 175+ since the start of 2023 in franchise cricket.
You have to feel for Jansen and Phillips, who have put up some brilliant performances across formats, but it looks like they'll be back-ups for Cummins and Klaasen for most of IPL 2024 unless something drastic happens.
Now comes the other two: Head has been superb for Australia in T20s of late and given how much SRH splurged on him (₹6.80 crore), it's unlikely he won't start. That will mean Markram missing out on a place in the 11 after losing his captaincy, despite leading SRH's sister team to back-to-back titles in the SA20.
Sri Lanka leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga, despite being a relatively cheap signing, walks into SRH's 11. The Orange Army's spinners averaged 38.08 in IPL 2023 - second from the bottom after the Punjab Kings.
They have never really been the force they were in 2016 since Rashid Khan left and even their excellent fast-bowling attack looks like it needs a catalyst wicket-taking spinner. Hasaranga, who picked up 35 scalps from 24 games in 2022 and 2023, would likely be asked to be that while partnering with the likes of Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mayank Markande and perhaps even Head.
#2 Pat Cummins (C), Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Travis Head and Aiden Markram
Once Cummins comes in, Markram goes out of the best combination because there just isn't enough space to maintain the right team balance.
Having a good Indian fast-bowling all-rounder in Cummins' place would have been helpful but those are rare in the IPL. SRH not clicking with Markram at the helm and finishing last in the IPL 2023 table has also gone against him.
But purely based on his batting in T20s, he merits a place in almost every playing XI in the world. The way he has revolutionised himself as a middle-order monster is perhaps second only to Klaasen in South Africa.
However, completely contrasting to Klaasen, his best as a batter seems to have come internationally and not in franchise cricket. His numbers for South Africa are comparable to Klaasen's in the SA20 and other leagues.
If SRH can trust their off-spinners and Markande to do the job of a serial wicket-taker, Markram, alongside Klaasen and Head could form a batting order that would win them at least a few games on itself. They'll have to just be wary of the risk of being too dependent on them, a bit like Royal Challengers Bangalore.
#3 Pat Cummins (C), Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Travis Head and Marco Jansen
The third option to keep the side in the balance while maintaining a bit of firepower would be dropping Hasaranga for Jansen. The latter flaunted his much-improved batting skills during the World Cup and is now even a notch higher in his batting ability, form and match-winning charisma than Hasaranga.
On pitches aiding fast-bowlers, he could definitely be the team's first choice, especially because he didn't have a horrible IPL 2023 with the ball. The troika of Cummins, Jansen, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Umran Malik would be a sight to behold.
Although it's not the best and would mean relying on a good but out-of-form Indian batting core to do the job, it'd also be closer to the SRH way of winning games with bowling prowess.