The upcoming season of the Indian Premier League is going to be historic. As soon as Sunrisers Hyderabad announced the name of their Indian stand-in captain to replace the injured Pat Cummins, it was written in the record books.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) appointed Ishan Kishan as their stand-in captain in the absence of their regular captain Pat Cummins. Cummins will miss the first few matches of IPL 2026 due to a lower back injury. In his absence, Ishan will take charge of the team.
Any Indian captain will lead the IPL campaign after a long gap of 7 years
For the IPL 2026 season, SRH was the only team to have a foreign captain in the form of Pat Cummins. After the departure of Sanju Samson, Rajasthan Royals have appointed Riyan Parag as their leader. The remaining teams remained with their previous season’s captains respectively.
On Wednesday, the franchise announced Ishan Kishan as its stand-in captain and Abhishek Sharma as his vice-captain. With Ishan Kishan being the captain, this will be the first time in seven years that the Indian Premier League will have a captain. Cummins will reportedly miss the first few matches of the tournament due to a lower back injury, which has also kept him out of the T20 World Cup 2026.
The Australian pacestar has a history of back injuries. But the nature of the injury is not clear. Another Australian fast bowler, Josh Hazlewood, who missed the T20 World Cup 2026 due to a hamstring injury, may miss a few IPL 2026 matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
In the 2019 season, Kane Williamson was originally named the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad. Later he had to choose Bhuvneshwar Kumar instead of Kane Williamson. The 2019 IPL season became an all-India captain’s tournament as Kumar was named the team leader.
As a captain, Ishan Kishan helped Jharkhand win its first Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2025
Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan was made the stand-in captain after the 2026 T20 World Cup win. The southpaw, who batted as an opener and number three batsman in the latter half of the tournament, scored 317 runs at a strike rate of 193.
Earlier, in 2025, he helped the Jharkhand cricket team win their first Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. As captain of the team, Ishan scored 517 runs in just 10 matches at a tremendous strike-rate of 197.
Complete list of captains in IPL 2019 and IPL 2026:
IPL 2026 Captains: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings), Axar Patel (Delhi Capitals), Shubman Gill (Gujarat Titans), Ajinkya Rahane (Kolkata Knight Riders), Hardik Pandya (Mumbai Indians), Rajat Patidar (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), Shreyas Iyer (Punjab Kings), Ryan Parag (Rajasthan Royals), Rishabh Pant. (Lucknow Super Giants), Ishan Kishan (Sunrisers Hyderabad).
IPL 2019 Captains: Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Ajinkya Rahane (Rajasthan Royals), Ravichandran Ashwin (Kings XI Punjab), MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings), Dinesh Karthik (Kolkata Knight Riders), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians), Shreyas Iyer (Delhi Capitals).
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