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Rohit Sharma file photo.© BCCI
Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise SunRisers Hyderabad is expected to change its captain ahead of the 2024 edition, it said Cricbuzz in a report. The 17th edition of the IPL will begin on March 22. Ahead of the tournament, Aiden Markram, who led SRH in 2023, is expected to be sacked from the captaincy and Australia captain Pat Cummins to replace him in the role, the report explained. It is worth noting that under Cummins’ captaincy, Australia beat India in both the World Test Championship final and the Cricket World Cup final last year.
If this report turns out to be true, it would be another big change in the IPL captaincy. In December last year, five-time champions Mumbai Indians replaced Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as captain.
Former New Zealand left-arm pacer James Franklin is likely to replace Dale Steyn as Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowling coach in the upcoming IPL, which begins on March 22.
Steyn, a former South African fast bowler, who took over as SRH’s bowling coach in 2022, has requested the franchise to give him a break for this season due to personal reasons.
“We are in talks with him (Franklin) as Dale Steyn will not be available for this season,” an IPL source told PTI on condition of anonymity.
The 43-year-old had previously played for Mumbai Indians in the 2011 and 2021 seasons, but this is his first stint as a coach in the IPL.
Franklin, however, has coaching experience with Durham in English county cricket and with Islamabad United of the Pakistan Super League as an assistant coach.
At SRH, Franklin will join his former teammate Daniel Vettori, who was appointed as the team’s head coach after IPL 2023.
They previously worked together at Middlesex in county cricket, as well as with Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred.
Franklin has played 31 Tests, 110 ODIs and 38 T20Is for New Zealand between 2001 and 2013.
(With PTI inputs)
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