The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are set to receive a massive boost in their lineup as Pat Cummins will be making his first appearance in IPL 2026 today.
This has been a long-awaited comeback for the Australian Test and ODI skipper. Indeed, tonight’s match will be Cummins’ only second professional game since picking up a stress fracture last July on the tour of the West Indies.
Last year, Cummins suffered a stress injury in his back and missed almost all action since August. During this period, the lanky Aussie pacer featured in only one match – the Adelaide Test in the Ashes 2025/26, where he snared six wickets, helping Australia seal the series – and missed all other cricket, including the T20 World Cup and half of the IPL 2026.
Cummins had joined the SRH squad prior to the commencement of the IPL, but Cricket Australia made it clear that Cummins, along with Hazlewood and Starc, would miss the initial phase of the tournament as all three of them were managing injuries and workload.
Hazlewood has played four games for RCB, and Cummins is raring to go in the orange jersey today. But the SRH team management has a dilemma about captaincy.
In Cummins’ stead, Ishan Kishan has led the team impressively. SRH lost three of their first four matches; however, the 2016 champions are turning their season around by winning three games in a row.
Under Kishan, SRH have won four out of seven matches. And as of Saturday morning, SRH sit in the fourth spot in the points table.
When is SRH’s next match?
SRH will take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Saturday evening in Jaipur. In their previous clash this season, SRH had thumped RR by 57 runs in Hyderabad when debutants Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain took four wickets each; the fast-bowling pair had dismissed RR’s top five with only nine runs on the board.
SRH’s bowling attack will be bolstered as Cummins will likely replace Dilshan Madushanka and also add some pace-hitting prowess as a batter.
RR vs SRH: Pat Cummins Or Ishan Kishan, Who Will Captain SRH Today?
SRH has a conundrum regarding the captaincy choice now. Kishan has led SRH to 4 wins in 7 games, and the team is on a three-game winning streak. Ishan is also deemed by many as the future SRH captain, given Cummins’ workload management, considering a choked-up Test schedule in 2027 for Australia.
However, Cummins is the incumbent SRH captain who marched the team to the final in IPL 2024.
Thus, it seems likely that Cummins will take over the captaincy from Kishan for the remainder of the IPL 2026 season.
Experts have given their opinion on the Kishan vs Cummins captaincy debate.
Aakash Chopra questioned, “Why should he (Kishan) be removed when everything is going fine? Let him captain, but I don’t see that happening.”
Wasim Jaffer opined, “Even if they continue with Ishan, I think it will be a wise decision in my opinion. The reason is that Pat Cummins has not played much cricket recently, so you can expect him to be a bit rusty.”
And veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh asserted, “Kishan should continue as captain even if Cummins returns. It is a debatable call, but if the team has backed a young leader, they should stick with him. The side is doing well under Kishan’s leadership. The bowlers and other players have built good coordination with him.”
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