Not Abhishek Sharma! THIS Indian star is set to captain SRH in Pat Cummins’ absence in IPL 2026 - Reports
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Earlier, it was reported that Abhishek Sharma will be leading SRH in Pat Cummins’ absence in IPL 2026.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be looking to register a better performance in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, after an underwhelming outing last year. Their batting lineup is loaded with match winners, from start to end. Openers Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head have become the most explosive opening pair, and Kishan’s form makes this top-3 a formidable one.
Heinrich Klaasen, who retired from International Cricket, will be looking forward to repaying the faith and trust shown in him by the management. Nitish Reddy and Aniket Verma, the local boys, will be responsible for SRH‘s finishing, while Liam Livingstone’s addition further adds to the firepower.
A big blow though, will be captain Pat Cummins’ absence from the initial part of the competition. According to reports in Times of India, he still has not recovered completely from his injury which forced him to withdraw from the final two Tests of the Ashes series, and later ruled him out of the T20 World Cup 2026.
Ishan Kishan to lead SRH in initial matches – Reports
After reports emerging that Abhishek Sharma will captain SRH in the first few matches in Cummins’ absence, Times of India journalist Pratyush Raj claims, it will be Ishan Kishan to lead the Orange Army. Further reports also suggest that Abhishek will be Kishan’s deputy (vice-captain).
This decision would not be surprising, given Kishan’s superior leadership experience as compared to Abhishek. Under his captaincy, India finished as runner-up in the 2016 U19 Cricket World Cup.
More recently, he led his team Jharkhand to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Kishan led from the front, with a stellar series with the bat, and even slammed a century from less than 50 balls in the final. This performance proved to be valuable as it led to Kishan’s comeback into the national team.
The decision to handover the captaincy hat to Kishan also stems from his highly successful stint at the recently concluded ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, where he finished as the fourth highest run getter, and single-handedly won the match for India against Pakistan.
Who will Sunrisers Hyderabad play in their opening game of IPL 2026?
Sunrisers Hyderabad will play their first game on March 28 against RCB.
Who might lead Sunrisers Hyderabad as captain in the first few matches?
Ishan Kishan is expected to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad in initial matches, not Abhishek as conflicting reports emerge.
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Aniruddh Seshadri Iyer is a passionate sports journalist at Khel Now, specializing in tennis and Olympic sports. An engineer by training, he found his storytelling passion through iconic Grand Slam and Olympic moments. Known for sharp analysis and insightful coverage, he draws inspiration from Novak Djokovic’s resilience. Outside journalism, he enjoys reading, traveling, and playing the guitar.