Sunrisers Hyderabad finished sixth last season, winning six of its 13 completed matches, with a late surge of three consecutive victories giving its campaign some momentum at the back end.

It heads into the new season with significant setbacks. Captain Pat Cummins is unavailable at the start due to a back injury, handing the leadership duties to Ishan Kishan in the interim. The squad has also been hit by the loss of pace-bowling allrounder Jack Edwards, ruled out with a foot injury, prompting SRH to bring in left-arm seamer David Payne as his replacement.

Here are the three things in focus for SRH ahead of this season.

RED-HOT FORM

532

Ishan Kishan’s runs in T20 cricket since January 2026

Since his return to India’s T20I setup in January 2026, Ishan Kishan has been in exceptional form. He has scored 532 runs, the most by any batter in this period, at a strike rate of 207.

Kishan is expected to slot in at No. 3, a role he occupied during India’s T20 World Cup campaign, adding further firepower to an already aggressive top order.

OPENING FIREPOWER

12.56

Highest partnership run rate in T20 cricket (min. 500 runs)

In Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, SRH possesses one of the most explosive opening pairs in T20 cricket. The duo’s partnership run rate of 12.56 is the highest recorded for any pair with a substantial sample size.

While both left-handers have hit a slight dip in form recently, their ability to dominate the PowerPlay remains central to SRH’s batting approach in high-scoring conditions.

SPIN STRUGGLES

15

Fewest wickets by spinners in IPL 2025

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s biggest weakness last season was its spin bowling. The side picked up just 15 wickets through spin, comfortably the lowest among all teams, with the next-best sides managing 27 each.

SRH’s spinners were also the most expensive in the league, conceding 9.80 runs per over. The addition of Liam Livingstone could help address this imbalance, offering both wicket-taking ability and control in the middle overs.

Full squad

Head coach: Daniel Vettori

Full squad: Ishan Kishan (c/wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Aniket Verma, Smaran Ravichandran, Salil Arora, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins, Liam Livingstone, Kamindu Mendis, Krains Fuletra, Brydon Carse, Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain, Onkar Tarmale, Jaydev Unadkat, Shivam Mavi, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga, David Payne, Harsh Dubey, Amit Kumar, Zeeshan Ansari

Published on Mar 26, 2026