Proteas batting great AB de Villiers has expressed his disappointment over Aiden Markram’s sacking as Sunrisers Hyderabad captain ahead of IPL 2024. SRH, who finished at the bottom of the points table last season, decided to make a massive change in their leadership and coaching role for the upcoming season. They appointed Daniel Vettori as their head coach last year in August, meanwhile, Pat Cummins, who they signed in the IPL 2024 Players auction, was named the captain.
SRH broke the bank in the IPL Auction to sign Australia captain Cummins for a whopping INR 20.5 crore as he became the second most expensive player in the league’s history.
Markram recently led SunRisers Eastern Cape, a subsidiary of the franchise, to their second back-to-back SA20 title. However, under his captaincy, SRH finished at the bottom in IPL 2023.
De Villiers said he was upset with Markram’s sacking but at the same time understood SRH’s decision to appoint Cummins as their captain who led Australia to two ICC titles last year.
“There’s reason for him (Pat Cummins) to be captain in that team, even though it’s a bit of a surprise to most people, a bit of an upset to me perhaps to see Aiden Markram being moved across and sort of just had to make way for Pat Cummins there, even though Aiden Markram has won back-to-back SA20 tournaments,” De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
However, the former RCB star suggested that SRH didn’t give much time to Markram as they were getting used to a new skipper last season.
“I think he’s a fantastic captain, and they were just getting used to him as captain there at the SRH. So, it is disappointing to me, to him, and to all South African fans, but if it is for the best of the SRH team, then so be it,” he added.
The legendary Proteas batter further indicated the Australian team connection in the SRH camp as their head coach Daniel Vettori is also part of the Aussie coaching staff.
“It’s quite a surprise, but not a big surprise to me, thinking of the involvement of Daniel Vettori, who was with the Australian team. Also, we might see some involvement with Andrew McDonald. You just see a bit of an Australian flavour coming into that Sunrisers Hyderabad team,” he added.
