Former India batsman Aakash Chopra has questioned the much-awaited decision of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to hand back the captaincy to Pat Cummins.
Cummins has not played any matches as he continues to battle injury and is focusing on managing his workload. Meanwhile, Indian wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan has taken charge for the Orange Army.
Under Kishan’s leadership, Sunrisers Hyderabad are currently placed fourth in the points table with 4 wins from 7 matches.
Cummins had recently indicated on social media that he would return to the Sunrisers team. Apart from returning to playing XII, Cummins will also hopefully take over the captaincy. Chopra questioned this decision on his YouTube channel.
“I wish Ishan Kishan had continued captaincy” – Aakash Chopra
Chopra expressed his wish that Kishan should remain the captain. He said there is no need to change what is working well.
“Hyderabad, Cummins is back. Now there is a big question. Dilshan Madushanka will go out and Cummins will come. I wanted Ishan to continue the captaincy. When everything is going well why should he be removed? Let him captain, but I don’t see that happening. I think there will be a change. Cummins will come and captain.”
“I hope SRH doesn’t win the toss” – Chopra
Chopra continued his analysis of the match between SRH and Rajasthan Royals on Saturday night. He said that SRH’s strength lies in batting first and if they win the toss, they will bowl first and lose.
“I hope he [Cummins] The toss does not win because if you win the toss you will bowl and if you bowl you will lose the match. My assessment is that Hyderabad should always bat first. They have lost all seven tosses. Every time they say they wanted to field first, but they got a chance to bat and they won four matches,” he analysed.
He further added, “Score 225, you win eight out of ten matches. You lose one match after scoring 220. That was against Punjab, but apart from that, whenever you score well you win. I think this team is doing brilliantly. On paper, it doesn’t look like a great bowling unit, but they are working excellent together.”
Ishan Kishan’s performance in IPL 2025
The interim captain of SRH has done a commendable job in terms of his captaincy and batting in IPL 2026.
Ishan Kishan was appointed the temporary captain of SRH after winning the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title as the captain of Jharkhand. So far, he has scored 238 runs in 7 matches with a strike rate of 188.89 and two half-centuries.
Along with captaincy, Ishan Kishan took over the wicketkeeping gloves for 4 out of 7 matches and handed over the gloves to Salil Arora for the remaining matches.
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SRH’s next match
Sunrisers Hyderabad will face third-placed Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Saturday, April 25. This will be the first match in IPL 2026 at Sawai Man Singh Stadium.
It remains to be seen how Ishan Kishan continues to be just a regular player in this SRH team, as he was last year.