Australia’s skipper, Pat Cummins, is gearing up for IPL 2024, aiming to use it as a springboard into T20 mode before the joint hosting of next year’s World Cup by the USA and the West Indies in June. Opting out of IPL 2023 due to a hefty international schedule, Cummins clinched the second-highest paycheck at the recent Dubai auction—Rs 20.50 crore with Sunrisers Hyderabad. In a record-breaking deal, his teammate, Mitchell Starc, secured a staggering Rs 24.75 crore with the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Speaking candidly, Cummins shared with cricket.com.au,

“I feel like I haven’t played a lot of T20 cricket, and in some ways, I haven’t displayed my best T20 cricket for a while.”

Expressing genuine excitement, Cummins said,

“I’m really pumped for next year to get some games before the World Cup, aiming not just to secure a spot but to rediscover my T20 bowling form.”

Recalling his impactful stint with KKR in 2022, where he hammered the fastest men’s T20 half-century by an Australian in just 14 balls, Cummins is eager to contribute to Sunrisers Hyderabad.

In a video on Sunrisers’ Instagram page, Cummins exclaimed,

“I’m pumped to be joining SRH for the upcoming IPL season. I’ve heard so much about the Orange Army, played in Hyderabad a few times, always loved it, so can’t wait to get started.”

Teaming up with fellow Aussie and World Cup final hero Travis Head at SRH, Cummins added:

“It’s great to see another Aussie at Trav Head over there. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun this season and, hopefully, plenty of success.”

In a dazzling turn of events at the IPL 2024 auction in Dubai, Pat Cummins, the triumphant captain of Australia’s World Cup cricket team, etched his name on history by shattering the record for the highest-priced player in IPL history. Sunrisers Hyderabad emerged victorious in a fierce bidding battle with Royal Challengers Bangalore, securing Cummins’ talent for a staggering Rs 20.50 crore on Tuesday.

Starting with a modest base price of Rs 2 crore, Cummins found himself at the epicenter of an intense bidding war, primarily contested between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Sunrisers franchise. The dynamic all-rounder made history by becoming the first player in IPL history to score more than 20 crores in a single instant.

Surpassing the previous record set by England’s Sam Curran, who fetched Rs 18.50 crore in the 2023 auction, the 30-year-old not only claimed the title of the most expensive overseas player but also cemented his status as the costliest player ever in IPL history.

After leading Australia to a record sixth World Cup victory against India in November at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, Cummins is accustomed to having his skills in high demand. At the IPL 2020 auction, he was roped in by the Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 15.5 crore.

In the realm of the IPL, Cummins boasts a career spanning 42 matches, during which he has taken 45 wickets.His worth goes beyond bowling, as he has demonstrated his ability to bat at a lower position by compiling 379 runs at a remarkable strike rate of 152.21.

The Sunrisers, grappling with a lack of stable captaincy in recent years, may find in Cummins not just a bowler who can bat but a leader capable of shouldering the responsibilities of the team’s captaincy.

Heading into the much-anticipated IPL 2024 auction, all 10 franchises have made strategic decisions on player retention and releases, setting the stage for an intense bidding showdown. The spotlight is on Mumbai Indians’ significant move, reacquiring Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans after his two-season stint with GT. In an interesting twist, Gujarat Titans have named Shubman Gill as their new skipper.

Among other headline-worthy transactions, Delhi Capitals have chosen to retain Rishabh Pant, despite uncertainties surrounding his return to the field following a car crash in December 2022 that forced him to miss the entire IPL 2023 season.

Let’s delve into the franchise-specific details:

Delhi Capitals:

Retained Players: Rishabh Pant, Pravin Dubey, David Warner, Vicky Ostwal, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, Abishek Porel, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Lungi Ngidi, Lalit Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Mitchell Marsh, Ishant Sharma, Yash Dhull, Mukesh Kumar.

Released Players: Rilee Rossouw, Chetan Sakariya, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Phil Salt, Mustafizur Rahman, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ripal Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Khan, Priyam Garg.

Rajasthan Royals:

Retained Players: Sanju Samson (C), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa.

Released Players: Joe Root, Abdul Basith, Jason Holder, Akash Vashisht, Kuldip Yadav, Obed McCoy, Murugan Ashwin, KC Cariappa, KM Asif.

Traded: Avesh Khan

Punjab Kings:

Retained Players: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh.

Released: Mohit Rathee, Raj Bawa, Shahrukh Khan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Baltej Singh.

Chennai Super Kings:

Retained players: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway (wk), Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana.

Released players: Ben Stokes, Dwaine Pretorius, Bhagath Varma, Subhranshu Senapati, Ambati Rayudu, Kyle Jamieson, Akash Singh, Sisanda Magala.

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Retained players: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Released players: Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das, Aarya Desai, David Wiese, Narayan Jagadeesan, Mandeep Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Johnson Charles.

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

Released players: Harry Brook, Samarth Vyas, Kartik Tyagi, Vivrant Sharma, Akeal Hosein, Adil Rashid.

Retained players: Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram (c), Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Heinrich Klaasen, Mayank Agarwal, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Singh Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Sanvir Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Traded players: Shahbaz Ahmed (from Royal Challengers Bangalore).

Lucknow Super Giants:

Released players: Jaydev Unadkat, Daniel Sams, Manan Vohra, Swapnil Singh, Karan Sharma, Arpit Guleria, Suryansh Shedge, Karun Nair.

Retained players: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen ul Haq, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan.

Traded players: Devdutt Padikkal (from Rajasthan Royals).

Gujarat Titans:

Released players: Yash Dayal, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Pradeep Sangwan, Odean Smith, Alzarri Joseph, Dasun Shanaka.

Retained players: Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma.

Traded players: Hardik Pandya (traded to Mumbai Indians).

Mumbai Indians:

Released players: Mohd. Arshad Khan, Ramandeep Singh, Hrithik Shokeen, Raghav Goyal, Jofra Archer, Tristan Stubbs, Duan Jansen, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Chris Jordan, Sandeep Warrier.

Retained players: Rohit Sharma (c), Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, N. Tilak Verma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Cameron Green, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Ak

Shahbaz Ahamad is now with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), having been traded from Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the upcoming 2024 IPL season. He played for RCB since 2020, featuring in 39 IPL matches and securing 14 wickets with a best of 3/7. In exchange, Mayank Dagar, a bowler, is moving to RCB from SRH. Mayank, a right-handed all-rounder, played only three games and took one wicket in the 2023 IPL season.

Representing Himachal Pradesh, Dagar played three games for SRH last year, taking one wicket. He was bought for Rs 1.8 crore before IPL 2023. In his T20I career, Mayank has taken 55 wickets in 54 matches.

Shahbaz, not only scoring 321 runs in 39 IPL matches at an average of nearly 17 but also taking 14 wickets, is making a switch. He had a standout 2022 IPL season, amassing 219 runs in 16 matches at an average of over 27, with four wickets. In T20Is, Shahbaz has scored 834 runs at an average of 22.54 and claimed 54 wickets.

Both SRH and RCB are entering the new season with new management. RCB, finishing sixth in the previous season, will be led by head coach Andy Flower. Meanwhile, SRH, having secured only four wins in 14 games, will be under the coaching of New Zealand legend Daniel Vettori.