The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) thought they would spend some time without their biggest bowling asset and team captain Pat Cummins. They named Ishan Kishan the skipper, with Abhishek Sharma as his deputy. The team practised without Cummins, who was initially set to give the start of the IPL 2026 a miss.
However, in terrific news for the Orange Army, Cummins will be joining the squad on Tuesday. Hyderabad open the campaign in the tournament opener against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on March 28. As per Cricbuzz, the team will reach Bengaluru on the 24th, a date when Cummins is expected to arrive and join his troops.
Who will lead Hyderabad in RCB vs SRH game?
Pat Cummins’ arrival before the commencement of the IPL 2026 was uncertain. In fact, Cricket Australia (CA) itself confirmed that the star trio of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood would miss a few initial games at the IPL 2026. While Hazlewood and Starc are expected to arrive later due to workload management, Cummins’ early arrival is a bit surprising.
With Australia prioritising their packed Test schedule in 2026 and 2027, it was expected that Cummins wouldn’t hurry himself into the tournament. After all, he suffered from lumbar stress in his back for the majority of 2025, missing four of the five home Ashes against England. He then missed the T20 World Cup 2026 as well, and there were certainly some clouds over his IPL 2026 participation.
Now that Cummins will be joining the SRH team four days before their opening game, it remains to be seen if Ishan Kishan gets his chance to lead the side. Not long ago, Kishan was named the stand-in skipper of SRH. With Cummins back in the hunt, it is likely that he starts the season as the captain against RCB. Against Bengaluru, Cummins enjoys a decent record, having taken 11 wickets at an economy of 8.61 across nine IPL games. His inclusion will give SRH a major boost in their bowling department, an area where SRH lacks potency.
However, in the same report, Cricbuzz states that it will be Kishan who will attend the mandatory IPL’s captains meet on March 25. On Wednesday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be arranging a customary meeting between all ten captains and head coaches, where they will be discussing any new rules for IPL 2026. Broadcasters will also be present in that meeting that would start with the captains’ photoshoot at 12 noon in Mumbai. Then there will be another meeting with the BCCI officials from 4:30 PM IST to 6:00 PM IST.
SRH IPL 2026 squad
Batters: Ishan Kishan, Aniket Verma, Smaran Ravichandran, Salil Arora, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head
All-rounders: Harshal Patel, Kamindu Mendis, Harsh Dubey, Brydon Carse, Shivang Kumar, Krain Fuletra, Liam Livingstone, Jack Edwards, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy
Bowlers: Pat Cummins, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Onkar Tarmale, Amit Kumar, Praful Hinge, Shivam Mavi
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