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SRH assistant coach Simon Helmot has lauded Pat Cummins’ clarity of thought while leading the team in the Indian Premier League 2024. Under Cummins’ leadership, SRH have made a dramatic turnaround and have reached the final of the 2024 season, after finishing at the bottom in 2023. Helmot, who has been a part of both campaigns has summed up the difference that Cummins has made to the team. Speaking in the press conference, Helmot said that Cummins is so clear in his approach that the team meeting ahead of their Qualifier 2 vs RR last only 35 seconds.
Helmot called Cummins a practical and humble guy and said that he was very empathetic towards his fellow teammates and coaches. Cummins came into the SRH side after winning the World Test Championship Final and ODI World Cup Final in 2023 and brought his Midas touch with him. Cummins and head coach Daniel Vettori have given the team a distinct identity in IPL 2024, something that was not seen previously in the last three seasons.
SRH vs RR, IPL Qualifier 2: Highlights | Scorecard
“Very practical guy. Very humble, very empathetic with his fellow teammates and coaching staff. He is into the statistics, gets the information he needs against a particular opposition in certain conditions. He doesn’t waste time. Doesn’t waste time in meetings. I think our team meeting today went for 35 seconds,” Helmot said in the post-match press conference.
“But a lot of information has already been spoken about. There’s a lot of one-on-one conversations with, you know, our fielding coach Cookie (James Cook) or James Franklin, the bowling coach. I suppose we probably limit the large group meetings, but we still have them when we need them to ensure that you know, we’re ready for any day,” he further added.
SRH vs RR: Match Report
Helmot credited SRH’s win over RR to the captain and the coach duo. Helmot said that the duo read the conditions extremely well, and the bowling changes that Cummins made in the middle overs won SRH the game.
On Friday night, it seemed like SRH were out of the game after scoring only 175 runs in the first innings. But the team hit back in the middle-overs in the second innings with a terrific spell between Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Ahmed. The part-time duo bowled 8 overs between them, gave away 47 runs and picked 5 wickets.
“I think a lot of credit goes to our captain. I think he made a decision at the time where he felt the conditions were conducive to spin. There were two right handers in. At the time, he felt that left-arm orthodox spinners would be a good option at work. The Abhishek one, I have not asked Pat this, but I dare say it may have been a gut feeling one. And if that’s the case, you know what a wonderful decision it was because it certainly changed the complexity of the game,” Helmot spoke about the captaincy.
“But I suppose it goes down to the philosophy of how SRH will play this year. Pat and Dan have a very good relationship and are very keen to explore different ideas and, and give players you know, real freedom to go and play and do what they need to do out in the middle. And we saw that again today. We saw that again with the bat and obviously with the ball. And so a lot of credit has got to go to Pat and the coach I would say,” Helmot said about the win against RR.
SRH will take on KKR in the final of the tournament. The team has already lost twice to the Shreyas Iyer-led franchise and will hope to be third time lucky.
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