The two most expensive overseas pacers in this year’s competition will both be watching Tuesday’s clash between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals from somewhere other than the middle and for teams that spent heavily to have them leading their attacks, that is a storyline that refuses to go away.

SRH host DC at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on April 21 in what is effectively a straight shootout for top-four positioning, both sides locked on six points and both sides missing the one bowler who could have made the biggest difference.

SRH vs DC: Pat Cummins is back, just not yet

Pat Cummins flew back to Hyderabad on Friday, cleared his fitness test, and by all accounts is in good shape. The back injury that has kept him out of all six SRH games so far appears to be responding well to the rehabilitation plan he mapped out before the season. bowling every third day, building load gradually, targeting the back half of the tournament.

SRH Head coach Daniel Vettori has confirmed the cautious approach for Tuesday, resting Pat Cummins against DC to allow him one more week of match preparation before the Rajasthan Royals game in Jaipur on April 25.

It is the right call.

Pat Cummins took 18 wickets in his debut SRH season in 2024 and followed it with 16 in 2025, he is too important to rush back and risk breaking down again. Ishan Kishan leads the side in his absence, and frankly has been doing a decent job of it.

SRH vs DC: Mitchell Starc’s absence is becoming a genuine Delhi problem

Mitchell Starc’s situation is more complicated and, for DC, considerably more frustrating.

The left-armer hasn’t featured in a single game this season due to shoulder and elbow issues picked up during the Australian summer, there is no confirmed return date, and DC are still waiting on a No Objection Certificate from Cricket Australia before he can even join the squad.

Mitchell Starc himself has pushed back on suggestions that his commitment is in question, the absence is strictly medical, he has made that clear. But clarity on the reason doesn’t make the gap in the lineup any easier to fill. Last season he took 14 wickets in 11 matches for DC.

In KKR’s 2024 title-winning campaign, Mitchell Starc took 17 in 14 games and was arguably the decisive factor in their season.

DC’s bowling without him has looked exactly as you’d expect a bowling attack to look without its best bowler, functional in patches, toothless when it matters most. Lungi Ngidi has carried the pace attack admirably but there is a ceiling to what he can do alone.

SRH vs DC: What IPL 2026 Tuesday actually looks like without either of them

SRH’s bowling without Pat Cummins has found unexpected answers, Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain both produced four-wicket hauls against Rajasthan Royals, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar has rediscovered his swing with ten wickets already this season.

The young Eshan Malinga has made the death overs his own with a slinging action that DC’s finishers haven’t faced much. DC come in with genuine momentum after beating RCB in a last-ball thriller, with KL Rahul’s 57 anchoring a chase and Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel giving them the most economical spin partnership in the tournament.

On a Hyderabad pitch that tends to slow down as the game progresses, that spin combination could be the difference. SRH enter as favorites on the back of two straight home wins and Abhishek Sharma in the kind of form, a 22-ball 59 last game, the fastest fifty in SRH history at 15 balls, that makes any total feel gettable.

Both captains missing their best bowler in form of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, both sides with genuine paths to a win. That is what Tuesday looks like.