SRH Predicted XI vs RCB, IPL 2026© AFP
Sunrisers Hyderabad look to start their IPL 2026 campaign on a high as they take on defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday. SRH will be without their captain Pat Cummins, who is still recovering from injury, and they will be captained by Ishan Kishan. In 2025, SRH did not have a good outing as they finished in the sixth position. Although their explosive batting attack did provide the fireworks, it was their bowling and fielding that proved to be the downfall and a poor show in death-over bowling meant that they were outplayed in a number of close encounters.
SRH will rely heavily on their explosive opening partnership of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. Abhishek regained his form in the T20 World Cup 2026 after a slew of bad performances as he scored a half-century to clinch the title for India. Along with Head, he will look to provide a quick start to his side against RCB.
The fireworks continue with Kishan at No. 3 and Heinrich Klaasen at No. 4. Nitish Kumar Reddy provides a lot of solidity at No. 5 while Rs 13 crore new recruit Liam Livingstone is expected to bat No. 6 and provide a decent spin bowling option.
Aniket Verma was used as a finisher last season and he is expected to play a similar role for his side.
Coming to the bowlers, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat and Eshan Malinga are expected to be the pace options with Harsh Dubey playing as the sole specialist spinner. When it comes to the Impact Player, Zeeshan Ansari or Shivam Mavi can be included considering the pitch conditions.
SRH Predicted XI: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (C), Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Liam Livingstone, Aniket Verma, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Harsh Dubey, Eshan Malinga.