Sunrisers Hyderabad have named Ishan Kishan as the new captain ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL 2026). The decision comes after reports claimed that current captain Pat Cummins could miss a few games of the upcoming edition of the tournament due to injury. Kishan, who led Jharkhand to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2025, has been named captain while Abhishek Sharma will serve as his deputy.

Ishan Kishan is new SRH captain

Taking to social media, SRH informed on Wednesday that Pat Cummins will miss a few games of IPL 2026.The franchise said that Kishan will captain the team in the Australian’s absence and that Sharma will act as his deputy. Cummins has been dealing with a lumbar stress back injury since July 2025 and featured in just one Ashes match in December. He missed the T20 World Cup as well.

“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 said.

SRH will take on defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their IPL 2026 opener at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on March 28. Earier, reports had claimed that Abhishek Sharma could lead SRH in the absence of Cummins. However, the franchise has opted for an experienced leader in the form of Kishan to lead the team while the explosive batter will serve as the southpaw’s deputy in the fist few matches of IPL 2026.

Abhishek, too, has experience of captaining domestic cricket, having led Punjab in 31 matches across formats. But unlike Kishan, he doesn’t have a record or track record.

Ishan Kishan T20 captaincy record