Post the victory for SRH against KKR, there’s some good news for the orange army fans as the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain Pat Cummins has returned to Australia as of 4 April 2026, for a final, pre-scheduled scan on his injured back. The scan is being conducted under the supervision of Cricket Australia (CA) to determine his readiness for competitive action in the latter half of the IPL 2026 season. Cummins left India following SRH's victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday, 2nd April.
If he receives medical clearance from CA, he will rejoin the SRH squad in India on 17 April 2026. Pat Cummins has been largely absent from international cricket since July 2025 due to a lumbar bone stress injury in his lower back. This long-term injury has significantly limited his appearances for Australia and forced him to miss major global tournaments. Cummins was officially ruled out of the tournament in February 2026 after a "minor setback" in his recovery made the timeline too tight for him to be match-fit. He missed four out of five Tests during the series against England. His only competitive outing in this period was the third Test in December 2025, where he took six wickets before being ruled out again
Vettori shows confidence in Ishan Kishan’s “highly successful leadership”
The absence of the skipper from the team led to the management making the SMAT 2025 winning captain, Ishan Kishan, their stand-in captain. The head-coach, Daniel Vettori, showed great trust in Kishan’s “highly successful leadership” style. As the interim captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2026, Ishan Kishan has led the team to one win and one loss in two matches. He has been highly effective with the bat, recording the highest score by an SRH player on their captaincy debut. He has maintained a massive strike rate of 200.00 in the tournament so far, scoring 94 runs across two innings. He also briefly held the Orange Cap after his explosive 80-run knock in the season opener, but has since been overtaken as more teams completed their second-round fixtures.
