Published: March 18, 2026 at 9:36 pm
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), even before the start of the IPL 2026 season, suffered an early blow off the field as their regular skipper Pat Cummins will not be available for them at least for the first few games of the tournament. As of now, there is no clarity on when Cummins would start playing in the IPL but the assumption within SRH is that he is likely to miss at least the first few matches.
Cummins has been battling a lumbar stress issue in his back for some time now, and the injury restricted him to just one match in Australia’s home season: the third Test against England in mid-December in Adelaide, where he took six wickets in 34 overs across two innings to help Australia go 3-0 up and retain the Ashes.
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The franchise was quick to name wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan as captain for the early IPL 2026 games. The 28-year-old Jharkhand star, fresh off captaining his state to the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and scoring 317 runs in India’s T20 World Cup 2026 triumph, steps up to the challenge in Cummins’ absence.
Kishan has been in terrific form
Since his international return at the start of the year, Kishan has scored 532 runs in 13 T20Is at an average of 40.92 and a strike rate of 207.00, including three half-centuries at the World Cup.
Since his international return at the start of the year, Ishan Kishan has scored 532 runs in 13 T20Is at an average of 40.92 and a strike rate of 207.00, including three half-centuries at the World Cup
SRH had signed Kishan for Rs 11.25 crore ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 354 runs at a strike rate of 152.58 in his first season at the franchise, including an unbeaten century on his debut for the team and an unbeaten 94 towards the end of the season
SRH have also named opener Abhishek Sharma as vice-captain. Both Kishan and Abhishek played key roles in India’s victory at the 2026 T20 World Cup. Both Kishan and Abhishek, who had a quieter tournament overall, scored fifties in the final against New Zealand in Ahmedabad.
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However, neither has led an IPL team before and that will be quite a handful for the youngsters to deal with.
This will only be the second season when all 10 teams start with Indian captains, at least until Cummins returns to take charge at SRH. In 2019, SRH was the only side with an overseas captain, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar stood in for Kane Williamson in their first match of the season.
How the team will manage without the services of Cummins remains to be seen as the Australian pacer is their mainstay in a bowling, unlike their batting, attack which lacks the depth.
There is an over-reliance on Cummins, says Faf
“Obviously, Cummins is the captain, so he is the go-to option. But apart from him, who are the other guys? Who are the two or three bowlers that are my bankers at the death and who will get me wickets in the powerplay? Looking at the names, I am not entirely sure who those guys are,” South African Faf du Plessis said while emphasizing the overdependence of SRH on Cummins. “I think in this team, yes, there is an over-reliance on Pat Cummins, the bowler.”
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Highlighting SRH’s bowling issues, former India pacer Laxmipathy Balaji said: “I was a bit surprised by Mohammed Shami’s trade between SRH and LSG. Of course, Harshal Patel is another option and he has experience when it comes to death bowling. But apart from that, the bowling lineup looks very thin. They have tried Jaydev Unadkat in the past and he will bowl a couple of overs up front as well. Then there is Shivam Mavi, another bowler who has struggled with injuries over the years.
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“In the spin department too, they do not have a recognised go-to option. Yes, Zeeshan Ansari, a domestic leg-spinner, has done well. That is probably why they may have to go pace-heavy, with Ansari as their primary spin option,” he added.
SRH face Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 28 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
