IPL 2026: Ishan Kishan to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad in Pat Cummins' absence

New Delhi: Ahead of IPL 2026, Sunrisers Hyderabad have made a big call, India's wicket-keeper Ishan Kishan has been appointed interim captain of team on Wednesday. The development has come as Pat Cummins is still recovering from the lumbar stress issue that ruled him out of Australia's T20 World Cup campaign.

The franchise also said that Abhishek Sharma will serve as vice-captain.

What did the franchise say?

In a statement, Sunrisers Hyderabad said that, "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."

What is the reason?

The franchise said that Cummins will join SRH in Hyderabad after getting the clearance from Cricket Australia to travel to the IPL.

The decision comes ten days before the IPL begins, with defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) facing SRH at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on March 28.

Notably, it will be the first time in the IPL history that all Indian players will captain all 10 teams, until Cummins returns to take charge at SRH. 

When will Cummins join?

Till now there is no date or announcement for when Cummins would start playing in IPL but according to the statement he is likely to miss at least the first few matches.

Cummins has been battling a lumbar stress issue in his back for some time now, and the injury restricted him to just one match in Australia's home season: the third Test against England in mid-December in Adelaide, where he took six wickets in 34 overs across two innings to help Australia go 3-0 up and retain the Ashes.

Both Kishan and Abhishek played key roles India's victory at the 2026 T20 World Cup. 

What about Kishan?

SRH signed Kishan for Rs 11.25 crore ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 354 runs at a strike rate of 152.58 in his first season at the franchise, including an unbeaten century on his debut for the team.