The IPL is less than two months away. Eyes would be on big buys such as Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, who are the only two cricketers in the league’s history to break the 20-crore mark.

Also Read: | (Watch) Virat Kohli recreates his shot of century against Naveen Ul Haq in second T20I vs Afghanistan

The pressure would be there for the Australian bowlers to justify their price tag. However, several pundits and fans are content that Cummins and Starc would fare well in the upcoming season and their purchase is justified. Recently Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar called Cummins’ buy as a smart move. He did rate it a little expensive but remarked that Pat will bring leadership skills with him and is most likely to replace Aiden Markram as SRH captain.

However, in the latest events, Irfan Pathan differed from Gavaskar’s views and remarked that Cummins is yet to prove himself in the shortest format of the game.

Irfan pointed out that Cummins did not lead Australia in the recently concluded T20I series against West Indies, which makes his price tag difficult to justify.

“Pat Cummins excelled in red-ball cricket during the World Test Championship and emerged victorious in the 50-over format by winning the ODI World Cup final. However, his performance in T20 cricket hasn’t been as impressive. Despite this, when a player attracts such a high bid, it raises questions about how he could be left out. This puts pressure on the team management.”

Also Read: | “Looking forward to the day we play together”: Novak Djokovic

“In my opinion, Pat Cummins hasn’t yet established himself in T20 cricket, not only in the IPL but also in Australian cricket. If he isn’t even leading Australia in T20Is, it casts doubt on whether he justifies such a hefty price tag,” the former India all-rounder further commented.

In 50 T20I games, Cummins has just 55 wickets. Meanwhile, in IPL, Pat has 45 wickets in 42 games.