IPL 2026: Pat Cummins Back As SRH Opt To Bowl Against RR

IPL 2026: Pat Cummins back as SRH opt to bowl against RR (Image Source: IANS)

Indian Premier League: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have won the toss and elected to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in match 36th of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Saturday. Captain Pat Cummins is back for SRH and leading the side for the first time in the season. Cummins has replaced Dilshan Madushanka, while Praful Hinge is back in place of Harsh Dubey in the SRH playing XI.

SRH is coming to the contest after a dominant win over the Delhi Capitals. They have won four out of seven matches and are placed at number four in the points table with eight points and a positive net run rate of +0.820.

The Rajasthan Royals are also entering the match with a big victory over the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their last match. They have won five out of seven matches and are placed at number 2 in the points table with 10 points and a positive net run rate of 0.790.

After winning the toss, SRH skipper Cummins spoke about returning after injury and team performance so far.

"We're going to have a bowl first. The wicket looks good, but we have to see what we need to chase down. Still really fresh. It's been a little while, but I've had really good preparation, a couple of bowls over here. I haven't played a game for a while, so we'll see how we go. But the body feels awesome," he said after winning the toss.

On Ishan Kishan's captaincy, he said, " He's fantastic. Yeah, four wins from the first seven games. I think he played the style that we really try and lead into here at SRH, that aggressive, fearless style approach."

"We know the pitch really well in Hyderabad. I think the challenge when you go play away is trying to sense what a good score is, what short work or ball work. So I think it's the first game for this venue for the season, so it'll be a challenge for both teams. Yeah, I've come in for Madushanka, and Hinge has come in, Harsh Dubey," he added.

While after losing the toss, RR captain Riyan Parag said," We were looking to do that as well. But the last couple of seasons, we have not done well chasing, no problems batting first. We know the wicket really well. We had our camp here. There might be dew, but it won't be too much. Last year we fell short by a couple of overs, just want to put a collective 40 overs. The middle order has to step up and the others."

Playing XIs:

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel(wk), Riyan Parag(c), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Brijesh Sharma, Nandre Burger

Impact substitutes: Ravi Bishnoi, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Shubham Dubey, Sandeep Sharma.

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel(wk), Riyan Parag(c), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Brijesh Sharma, Nandre Burger

Impact substitutes: Travis Head, Smaran Ravichandran, Harsh Dubey, Liam Livingstone, Harshal Patel

Article Source: IANS