Sunrisers Hyderabad are all set to welcome back their regular captain, Pat Cummins, for their next Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) game against Rajasthan Royals on Saturday. The Australian all-rounder joined the SRH squad last week after getting a clearance from Cricket Australia, but did not feature in the game against Delhi Capitals, where Ishan Kishan and co. clinched a 47-run win. Now that he returns, it remains to be seen who SRH will bench in their contest against RR.
SRH have found reliable options in Nitish Kumar Reddy, Praful Hinge, and Sakib Hussain in the absence of Cummins. Therefore, it would be a big gamble to leave out either Sakib or Hinge to accommodate the Australian. But in all likelihood, Eshan Malinga is expected to pave the way for Pat in SRH’s playing XI vs RR.
Predicted SRH playing XI vs RR
Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (C), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Pat Cummins, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain
Impact player: Dilshan Madhushanka / Liam Livingstone
Pat Cummins, who is arguably one of the most successful captains for SRH, will return to the helm of affairs against RR, taking over the mantle from stand-in captain Ishan Kishan, who has done a good job so far. The regular skipper has missed the first six games as he was recovering from a lumbar stress injury. Given the red-hot form that Hinge and Hussain have been in, it is highly unlikely that they will be dropped from the playing XI. Therefore, it will be a no-brainer for SRH to replace Malinga with Cummins in the line-up, as the Australian all-rounder will also add to the batting depth.
Cummins has been a part of SRH for the last two seasons and bagged 18 and 16 wickets respectively in IPL 2024 and 2025. With the bat, he has scored 136 and 97 runs. His addition to the playing XI will come as a big boost for SRH, who were till date depending on inexperienced but talented pacers.
Meanwhile, SRH are expected to make no changes to their powerful top and middle-order. However, they will be wary of facing a formidable RR unit at their home ground and hence will want to cover all bases. Therefore, the team could be looking at using Liam Livingstone as an impact player to boost their batting line-up. Harsh Dubey and Shivang Kumar will comprise of the spin unit.
SRH are currently 4th on the points table with 4 wins from 7 matches and will be looking to extend their winning run and solidy their position in the top-half of the points table as the race to the IPL 2026 playoffs heats up.
