Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 on Saturday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. After a disappointing 2025 campaign that saw them finish sixth on the points table, SRH will begin the new season without their regular captain Pat Cummins, who is sidelined for half the tournament due to a back injury. In Cummins’ absence, the Hyderabad-based franchise will be led by young wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan. The upcoming fixture against RCB will mark a historic milestone for the left-hander.
At 27 years and 253 days, Kishan will become the youngest Indian captain in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s IPL history. Overall, he will be the second-youngest skipper to lead the franchise, behind New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, who was 27 years and 244 days old when he captained SRH in the 2018 season.
Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are among the other Indian players who have previously led SRH in the IPL.
Earlier on Friday, head coach Daniel Vettori expressed confidence in the team’s decision to appoint Kishan as the stand‑in captain, stating that the management had little hesitation in handing him the responsibility, given that he has proven himself to be a confident player and leader.
“I think Ishan’s been around in the IPL for a long period of time now. He’s been with a number of teams and he’s been highly successful, so, he brings in his own confidence around that,” Vettori said in the pre-match press meet on Friday.
“The fact that he’s led the U19s and his state team and they won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy this year brings a confident person, a confident player and a really confident leader and those are the attributes that we really looked at when he was appointed.
“His combination with Abhishek, they’re good friends, they know the team exceptionally well and I really feel like those two will lead from the front this season,” he added.
It also marks a rare occasion when every IPL team starts the season with Indian captains.
(With PTI Inputs)