Ishan Kishan to Lead SRH as Injured Pat Cummins Misses IPL 2026, Abhishek Named Deputy

March 18, 2026: Sunrisers Hyderabad have made Ishan Kishan the stand-in captain because regular captain Pat Cummins will miss a few matches in IPL 2026 due to injury. Abhishek Sharma will be the vice-captain.

Pat Cummins is still recovering from a back injury. Because of this, he also missed the T20 World Cup 2026 and some matches in the 2025–26 Ashes series. The team said that Kishan will lead the side until Cummins returns.

It is a bold decision by SRH because Kishan joined the team only last season. The team bought him for ₹11.25 crore. In his first season, he scored 354 runs in 14 matches with a strike rate of 152.58, including one century and one half-century.

Kishan is now in very good form. He recently played well for India and helped the team win the T20 World Cup. He scored 317 runs in the tournament, including three centuries. One of his best innings came in the final against New Zealand. In IPL 2026, he is expected to bat at number 3. Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head will likely open the batting.

𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 🚨

Pat Cummins will miss a few games while recovering from injury.

Until he recovers, Ishan Kishan will be the Captain and Abhishek Sharma will be the Vice-Captain. pic.twitter.com/etXJUkQJeG

— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) March 18, 2026

Abhishek Sharma named vice-captain

Abhishek Sharma has been named the vice-captain of the team. He has been improving quickly in international cricket. He had a tough start in the T20 World Cup with three ducks against USA, Pakistan, and the Netherlands. But later, he scored a half-century against Zimbabwe and gained confidence.

In the final, he played a very important innings. He scored 52 runs off just 21 balls and hit the fastest fifty of the tournament in 18 balls. His performance helped India score a big total of 255.

Kishan also has a strong IPL record. He has played more than 100 matches and scored nearly 3000 runs. He has a good strike rate and has scored one century and many half-centuries.

Sunrisers Hyderabad will play their first match of IPL 2026 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 28 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.