IPL 2026: Injured Pat Cummins to miss start; Ishan Kishan to lead SRH

Australian captain Pat Cummins will miss the start of IPL 2026 due to a back injury. Sunrisers Hyderabad have named India's Ishan Kishan as the stand-in captain, with Abhishek Sharma appointed as the vice-captain until Cummins recovers.

Australian white-ball captain Pat Cummins is set to miss the first few games of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season due to a back injury, with star India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan named as stand-in captain for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in his absence.

SRH Announces Stand-in Captain

The Hyderabad-based franchise announced in a post on X that Cummins will miss "a few games" while recovering from a back injury sustained ahead of the 2025-26 Ashes. Notably, Cummins played one Ashes game before sitting out the remaining four due to the injury and also did not feature in the T20 World Cup 2026. SRH announced that the wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan will captain the side in Cummins' absence and left-handed batter Abhishek Sharma will be his deputy. "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," SRH announced in the X post.

𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 🚨 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. pic.twitter.com/etXJUkQJeG — SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) March 18, 2026

Kishan to Lead on Back of Strong Form

Notably, Ishan Kishan has been in exceptional form since leading Jharkhand to their first Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title in 2025, finishing as the top scorer in the tournament with 517 runs. His performances earned him a return to India's T20 World Cup squad, where he played a crucial role in India's T20 WC title defence. At the 2026 T20 WC, Ishan Kishan scored 317 runs and ended as the team's second-highest run-scorer.

SRH signed Ishan Kishan before the IPL 2025 season for Rs 14.5 crore and made an immediate impact, smashing a 45-ball century against Rajasthan Royals on debut. However, he ended the season with 354 runs from 13 innings at an average of 35.40.

SRH Squad for IPL 2026

SRH squad for IPL 2026 season: Salil Arora, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Ravichandran Smaran, Aniket Verma, Abhishek Sharma, Brydon Carse, Harsh Dubey, Jack Edwards, Liam Livingstone, Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Mavi, Pat Cummins, Amit Kumar, Krains Fuletra, Praful Hinge, Eshan Malinga, Harshal Patel, Sakib Hussain, Shivang Kumar, Onkar Tarmale, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari. (ANI)

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