3 min readMar 25, 2026 09:33 PM IST
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Pat Cummins, who is recovering from an injury which ruled him out of the T20 World Cup, said recently that he aims to play the ‘back half plus the finals’ of the upcoming Indian Premier League season. Last week, the franchise had revealed that regular captain Cummins would miss the beginning of the IPL season and Ishan Kishan will lead the team in his absence.
“I’m still recovering from a back injury, but it’s good. I’m back bowling in the nets. The IPL is starting soon. I won’t make the start of that, but it shouldn’t be too long before I’m back out there playing. I’m back bowling. I’m bowling basically every third day at the moment. We’ve mapped out a plan to get me right by middle of the tournament, so hopefully, if nothing goes wrong, I’ll play the back half plus the finals,” Cummins said in the Business of Sport podcast.
Stand-in skipper Kishan has been on a hot streak since powering Jharkhand to their maiden domestic title in December 2025. Under Kishan’s leadership, Jharkhand clinched the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, with the dashing southpaw emerging as the highest run-getter of the season, aggregating 517 runs in 10 innings. He was soon backed for a return to the national colours after three years, eclipsing Shubman Gill to make the cut for India’s T20 World Cup squad the same month.
Kishan has emerged as the standout T20I batter of the 2026 calendar year thus far, leading the charts with 532 runs in only 13 innings and rising to a career-best world no. 2 ranking in the format. Playing a crucial hand in India’s home T20 World Cup win earlier this month, Kishan hauled 317 runs and finished as the team’s second-highest run-getter in the tournament.
“Ishan’s had a really successful captaincy stint with his local side in the last year or so,” Cummins said of his SRH teammate.
Hyderabad will start their campaign against the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the opening match of the 2026 IPL on March 28.
