According to the head coach, Sunrisers Hyderabad are not missing their captain Pat Cummins on the field. He commented ahead of the team’s second match against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. Vettori lauded the stand-in skipper Ishan Kishan, saying he was pleased with the leadership quality of the wicket-keeper batter.

Cummins hasn’t recovered from his back injury and was unavailable for the opening game against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

He played just one Ashes Test and also missed the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. Cummins has been out of action for six months, and there is no information available on his comeback.

The right-arm fast bowler has started bowling in the nets, but he is not fully fit yet. He is expected to return to the playing XI midway through the season.

Vettori is backing Ishan Kishan to deliver for the Men in Orange, adding that the batter was impressive against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the first contest of the season, a game that SRH lost by a big margin.

“We are fortunate that Pat has been with us, and he is talking to Ishan about captaincy,” Vettori said.

“Ishan has been highly successful as captain so far. It is a bit different in IPL, but we can’t take it negatively from the point of leading the side,” he added.

Ishan scored 80 runs off 38 balls, and it took a sensational catch from Phil Salt to dismiss him. Vettori mentioned that Kishan leads from the front, which can have a positive impact on the morale of the players.

“Ishan loves leadership and being out there in the middle.

He was phenomenal with the bat in the first game. He is still understanding the group and the dynamics of the team. I am confident that he will be effective as a leader for us,” he concluded.

SRH will have to address the shortcomings in their bowling department as the team conceded 203 runs in less than 16 overs, leaving them with a Net Run Rate of -4.171.

SRH batters will have to score over 230 runs to stand a chance of winning the game.