SRH are back to winning ways, and so are CSK, finally. But then on Saturday, when the two teams face off against each other in Hyderabad, it will only boil down to who has the better team combination coming in. For Sunrisers Hyderabad, Pat Cummins is finally fit but will only be available for selection from April 25, so the long wait continues and the bowling remains a big concern. Batting has been good; once again they’ll depend on them to get them the next two points.
What makes things worse for SRH, at least for now, is all three of Brydon Carse, Jack Edwards, and David Payne are ruled out of IPL 2026. Just recently, SRH have signed Gerald Coetzee as a replacement for Payne. InsideSport takes a look at the predicted SRH XI vs CSK.
Kishan-led batting unit should be fixed
The batting unit is as incredible as anyone for SRH. The Orange Army batters have accumulated 972 runs so far this season, which is the second-most after RCB’s 986. Batting hasn’t let down the team apart from the game against LSG. Abhishek Sharma has not been the best till now but still has scored 129 runs, at a strike rate of 215. Just one match away from striking form. Travis Head has 120 runs scored so far, just like Abhishek; he’s not at his best, but you still can’t leave him out at all.
Heinrich Klaasen is SRH’s highest run-getter, scoring 224 in 5 matches, at an average of 44 and a strike rate of 142. The latter can be improved upon. Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan, the stand-in skipper, has been good as well and gone on to score 211 runs with two fifties to his name. Nitish Kumar Reddy: 124 runs; he has done his job so far with the bat despite batting at number five. He has been a superb revelation after having an awful IPL 2025.
Salil Arora and Aniket Verma have added as finishing options, keeping Liam Livingstone out of the picture so far. Livingstone can come in place of Arora if SRH wants but the SRH camp have shown incredible trust in the uncapped talents. One man who has built on that confidence is Harsh Dubey, who has picked five wickets in as many games at an economy of 8.67 despite bowling inside the powerplay as well.
Who will complement Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain?
After the IPL 2026 auction, SRH had one of the most underwhelming pace bowling units. With Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat and Eshan Malinga not performing, SRH were extremely poor. After the first 20 matches, SRH had the worst economy (11.47) as a pace bowling unit and also had the second-worst bowling average (45.4).
But that changed until SRH gave opportunities to the young duo of Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain, who took four wickets each to win an incredible match against the Rajasthan Royals (RR). They were on point and SRH need to back them up again. Meanwhile, Shivang Kumar adds a wrist-spin variety and complements Harsh Dubey superbly.
However, the overseas pace bowling option can throw a curveball for SRH. Eshan Malinga has played all five games thus far, with Pat Cummins unavailable. Although he took two wickets in the last game, his economy of 10.40 has been too expensive. This is where the left-arm pace of Dilshan Madushanka could come in. The Sri Lankan joined SRH three days ago, replacing Brydon Carse in the team. He can be a perfect foil for the youngsters Praful and Sakib, creating a left-arm angle that can trouble CSK batters.
Predicted SRH playing XI vs CSK
| S. No | Name |
|---|---|
| 1. | Abhishek Sharma |
| 2. | Travis Head ✈️ |
| 3. | Ishan Kishan (C) (WK) |
| 4. | Heinrich Klaasen ✈️ |
| 5. | Nitish Kumar Reddy |
| 6. | Aniket Verma |
| 7. | Salil Arora |
| 8. | Harsh Dubey |
| 9. | Shivang Kumar |
| 10. | Dilshan Madushanka ✈️ |
| 11. | Sakib Hussain |
| 12 (Impact Sub) | Praful Hinge |
