Follow UsPat Cummins and Mitchell Starc have played a lot of cricket together, won every ICC tournament, but will be up against each other when Kolkata Knight Riders take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens on March 23 (Saturday). Cummins (20.50 crore) and Starc (24.75 crore) also emerged as the most expensive buys in the 2024 Auction.
"I will say this: hopefully I don't have to face Starc because that means our batters have done quite well. It's funny… it's one of the beauties of the IPL; I have been playing with Starcy for 15 years, (and) I can't remember another game where I have played against him. Also, it's going to be weird looking across and seeing him in the other dugout,” said Cummins.
"Yeah, being an opposition captain, seeing how we go about playing him will be an interesting part of tomorrow. But we're both bowlers, so I am not sure we'll cross (paths) too much."
Cummins is Australia’s captain in Tests and ODIs but has never led a competitive T20 side. “Really excited, good to go. It's got its challenges. In that you play 14 games in six-seven weeks, plus finals. I'm used to playing a lot of Test cricket, so four overs isn't as taxing on your body. But it can be mentally taxing, the travel, obviously a different country, play a new team every few days you have to prepare for… But it's nothing new, we've done it before.
“Obviously, the game day is most important. That's what we put most days into. No teams play the same XI for all 14 games. I am sure we've got to call on our squad and we're lucky we've got a young, fit squad.
"I think it's been a part of the IPL, you have expectations, you have a lot of fans who demand a lot out of the team, they want results. Yeah, being captain is probably a little bit more (of responsibility). But it's not much different to what we're used to as players. We'll give it our best."
Cummins has his Australia teammate Travis Head in the squad but hasn’t played much cricket with the others. “The biggest difference is that you know your team-mates really well playing for Australia. There's a lot of things doesn't need to be said, because I have played with Joshie Hazlewood and Starc for 15 years. So there's a real kind of trust and you just don't really need to say much, everything kind of runs by itself.
“I think here, learning (about) some new players, that's going to be the biggest difference, and just learning those different roles within the team. I know a few of the other guys, obviously, and have done a bit of homework to try and get the best out of the guys. But that's probably going to be the biggest difference.”
Wanindu Hasaranga is SRH’s leading spinner but playing him would mean that one of Head or Aiden Markram will have to miss out. Amongst Indian options, Hyderabad have Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed and Mayank Markande but they are not of the same quality.
"Whilst not having any huge names that have played a lot of cricket for India, I've been really impressed with the guys we do have," said Cummins.
"Washington, who can bat in the top seven but also give handy overs. Markande as well, who's had some success as well. So I feel like we've got that covered. We've also got guys like Aiden Markram and Travis Head, who can chip in if we need to as well. So feels like there's a bit of quality there and if it's a spinning wicket, we've got plenty of guys who can bowl."
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