Hyderabad, Mar 18 (PTI) Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday appointed India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan as interim captain for the early part of IPL 2026, with Abhishek Sharma as his deputy, while Pat Cummins recovers from his injury.

Cummins has been sidelined with a stress injury on his lower back, which kept him away for a major part of the last Ashes series Down Under as well as the T20 World Cup.

“Pat Cummins will miss a few games while recovering from injury. Until he recovers, Ishan Kishan will be the captain and Abhishek Sharma will be the vice-captain,” the franchise said on social media.

IPL 2016 winners SRH, however, did not specify the number of matches Cummins is set to miss.

Kishan’s appointment as SRH’s stand-in skipper comes after a successful run across formats.

The left-handed batter played a key role in India’s title-winning campaign in the T20 World Cup, finishing as the fourth-highest run-scorer in the tournament with 317 runs in nine matches at 199.37. He averaged 80.25 and struck three half-centuries.

His exploits with the willow also saw Kishan rising to the No.2 spot in the ICC rankings for T20I batters, a list which is led by Abhishek.

Earlier this season, Kishan had captained Jharkhand to their first-ever title in India’s premier domestic T20 competition, Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy. PTI

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