Sunrisers Hyderabad will face defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the opening match of IPL 2026 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, March 28. During the match, stand-in captain Ishan Kishan is set to achieve milestones for the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise.
The wicketkeeper batsman will lead Sunrisers Hyderabad, as regular captain Pat Cummins is currently recovering from a lumbar strain back injury. After a disappointing sixth-place finish in the IPL 2025 season, the Hyderabad-based franchise will be hoping to start the upcoming tournament on a positive note.
At the age of 27 years and 253 days, Ishan Kishan is ready to achieve a big feat. He will become the youngest Indian captain in the history of the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise.
He will go ahead of former Indian captains like Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Overall, Ishan Kishan will be the second youngest captain to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.
The franchise record is held by New Zealand star Kane Williamson, who captained Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2018 season at the age of 27 years and 244 days.
Ishan Kishan brings confidence in himself – Daniel Vettori
Earlier on Friday, Mohd. Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori expressed confidence in appointing Ishan Kishan as the interim captain. Vettori said that Ishan brings leadership experience to guide the Sunrisers Hyderabad team during the absence of Pat Cummins.
“I think Ishan has been in the IPL for a long time. He has been with many teams and he has been extremely successful, so, he brings his confidence with him.”
“The fact that he has led the U19s and his state team and they won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy this year, it brings a confident person, a confident player and a really confident leader and those are the qualities we really looked at when he was appointed.”
“His combination with Abhishek, they are good friends, they know the team very well and I really feel like they both will lead from the front this season.”
Ishan Kishan’s strong form and leadership before IPL 2026
The interim captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad recently won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 title with India. During that campaign, Ishan finished as the fourth-highest run-scorer with 317 runs in nine innings at an average of 35.22 and an impressive strike rate of 193.29.
Before IPL 2026, Ishaan had scored 103 runs in the final match against New Zealand in Thiruvananthapuram. Notably, he led Jharkhand to its first-ever Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title in 2025–26, winning ten out of eleven matches, while their only defeat came against Andhra Pradesh.
Sunrisers Hyderabad had retained Ishaan before the mini auction last year. During IPL 2025, the left-handed batsman scored 354 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 152.58, which included one century and one half-century.
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