“Very empathetic with his teammates”: SRH’s assistant coach Simon Helmot lauds skipper Pat Cummin

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 25 (ANI): Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) assistant coach Simon Helmot showered praise on skipper Pat Cummins and said that the Aussie cricketer is very “empathetic” with his teammates.

The Sunrisers clinched a 36-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Qualifier 2 match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Helmot said Cummins is ‘very practical and humble’ with his other teammates and the coaching staff. He added the skipper doesn’t waste time in the meetings.

“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.

He revealed that they have a lot of one-to-one conversations with the fielding and bowling coach.

“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 added.

Recapping the match, Rajasthan Royals won the toss and decided to field first. Heinrich Klaasen (50 runs from 34 balls, 4 sixes) and Rahul Tripathi (37 runs from 15 balls, 5 fours and 2 sixes) were the standout batters in the first inning and played a knock which helped the Sunrisers put 175/9 on the scoreboard. Travis Head (34 runs from 28 balls, 3 fours and 1 six) also played a crucial role opening for the Hyderabad-based franchise.

Trent Boult and Avesh Khan led the Rajasthan bowling attack after the pacers picked up three wickets each in their respective spells.

During the run chase, Yashasvi Jaiswal (42 runs from 21 balls, 4 fours and 3 sixes) and Dhruv Jurel (56 runs from 35 balls, 7 fours and 2 sixes) tried their best but failed to chase the target. The Royals stumbled to a 36-run defeat after failing to add runs against the SRH bowlers.

Shahbaz Ahmed led the SRH bowling attack picking up 3 wickets in his four-over spell, while Abhishek Sharma bagged two wickets in his four-over spell.

Sunrisers will face Kolkata Knight Riders in the final of the ongoing edition at Chepauk on Sunday.