Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have made a surprise captaincy call ahead of IPL 2026, as their skipper and Australian superstar Pat Cummins will miss the start of the tournament.
With Pat Cummins unavailable, Sunrisers Hyderabad have taken a bold decision, and the timing couldn’t be better. He has decided to hand over the captaincy to Ishan Kishan for the start of the upcoming IPL 2026 starting from March 28 in Bengaluru.
SRH surprised everyone by appointing Ishan Kishan as captain before IPL 2026.
Interestingly, Ishan was selected over Abhishek Sharma despite joining the franchise only last season. Abhishek, who started his journey with SRH, has been made the vice-captain.
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They announced this decision because Cummins is still recovering from injury and will not be able to play in the first few matches. SRH posted, x: “Pat Cummins will miss a few games while recovering from injury. Till his recovery, Ishan Kishan will be the captain and Abhishek Sharma will be the vice-captain.”
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Pat Cummins will not be able to play some matches while recovering from injury.
Till their recovery, Ishan Kishan will be the captain and Abhishek Sharma will be the vice-captain. pic.twitter.com/etXJUkQJeG
– Sunrisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) 18 March 2026
Ishan Kishan’s poor SRH start and T20 World Cup heroics
Ishan is entering the new season after a mixed first year with the franchise. Last season, he scored 354 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 152.58. The left-handed batsman looked dangerous but could not maintain his rhythm as SRH failed to make the playoffs.
Well, Ishaan’s tremendous form for India might have been the reason behind making him the captain. He was one of India’s biggest heroes during their victorious T20 World Cup 2026 campaign.
He became India’s second highest run-scorer by scoring 317 runs in 9 innings at an explosive strike rate of 193. This form has taken him to No. 2 in the ICC T20I batting rankings, and it says everything about the level he is playing at right now.
Strong Jharkhand record shows why SRH trust Ishan
Additionally, the Indian wicketkeeper-batsmen are also coming in with strong leadership numbers. He recently led Jharkhand to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title for the first time in December 2025 and that win gave a big boost to his captaincy image.
Overall, Ishan has captained Jharkhand in 79 matches across all formats. Their record in T20 cricket is particularly impressive as they have won 23 out of 29 matches. In List A cricket, he has won 21 out of 37 matches. Ishan is unbeaten in 13 matches in first-class cricket, with 6 wins and 7 draws.
His captaincy journey had started long ago. In 2016, he took India to the final of the Under-19 World Cup. These figures show that Ishan knows how to manage the team and win big games.
Ignoring captaincy cannot overpower Abhishek Sharma’s explosive growth.
On the other hand, Abhishek Sharma missed out on the SRH captaincy for IPL 2026 despite spending seven seasons with the franchise and leading Punjab in domestic cricket. Abhishek has captaincy experience, but Ishan’s leadership record for Jharkhand is far more impressive.
Nevertheless, Abhishek remains one of SRH’s biggest stars. The 24-year-old is now the world No. 1 T20I batsman and is entering IPL 2026 as a premier opening batsman. He made his IPL debut with a price tag of βΉ55 lakh and now he has become a βΉ14 crore star. SRH retained him for both 2025 and 2026.
Abhishek has played 77 IPL matches so far and has scored 1,816 runs in 74 innings at an excellent strike rate of 163.02. He already has 1 century, 9 fifties and 101 sixes in the league.
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