IPL 2026 | 'Ishan Kishan brings energy': Vettori backs stand-in skipper amid Pat Cummins absence

Bengaluru: Sunrisers Hyderabad will open their IPL 2026 campaign without pace spearhead and regular captain Pat Cummins, who remains sidelined for at least the first two weeks while Cricket Australia oversees a gradual rebuild of his bowling workload. Head coach Daniel Vettori, speaking at Friday’s pre-match press conference, insisted the franchise is comfortable with the timeline and praised the leadership credentials of stand-in skipper Ishan Kishan.

“His fitness has been exceptional,” Vettori said of Cummins. “He’s been out of the game for an extended period, so he’s had time to put in a real block of work around strength and conditioning. The only issue has been his bowling loads. Once he got the all-clear from Cricket Australia, it’s been a bit of a painstaking process to build him up to where he feels confident and strong about bowling.”

Vettori expects a firmer return date within 10–12 days, but until then the reins have been handed to Kishan, whose recent form and leadership exploits have impressed the coaching staff. The wicket-keeper batter, signed last season, guided Jharkhand to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 crown earlier this year and finished the T20 World Cup on a personal high.

“He was added to the group last year, and the leadership that he exuded throughout the season, particularly in the back half when he took over the wicket-keeping, really brought energy to the group and set up our back half,” Vettori explained. “When Cummins was unfortunately out of the initial stage of the tournament, we obviously had some decisions to make. His experience with his state team, in particular, had been so impressive, and he was in really good form. So between Abhishek Sharma and himself, we feel like we've got a really good leadership group to lead us this year.”

With Cummins unavailable, Sunrisers are also weighing debut opportunities for three uncapped Indian players. Karnataka left-hander R Smaran headlines the trio, joined by seam-bowling all-rounder Aniket Verma and top-order batter Salil Arora, all of whom remain in contention for a first-team berth during the opening fortnight.