Why Sunrisers Hyderabad chose Ishan Kishan as captain in Pat Cummins’ absence, Daniel Vettori explains

Daniel Vettori explains the reason behind appointing Ishan Kishan as SRH captain for IPL 2026. Take a look and read the full story.

Daniel Vettori explains why they appoints Ishan Kishan as SRH captain — Daniel Vettori opens up on Ishan Kishan’s captaincy

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, is all set to take place on March 28. The first match of the tournament will be played between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Bengaluru.

Ishan Kishan will captain Sunrisers Hyderabad in the few matches of the tournament as Pat Cummins will be unavailable for the opening games. Kishan showcased a great leadership performance during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last season. Not only this, he also performed brilliantly in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 and helped the team to lift the title.

Daniel Vettori backs Ishan Kishan for his captaincy role ahead of IPL 2026

However, former New Zealand player and Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori backs Ishan Kishan and his deputy Abhishek Sharma for new leadership goals.

“I think Ishan’s been around in the IPL for a long period of time now. He’s been with a number of teams and he’s been highly successful, so, he brings in his own confidence around that,” Vettori said in the pre-match press meet here on Friday.

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“The fact that he’s led the U19s and his state team and they won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy this year brings a confident person, a confident player and a really confident leader and those are the attributes that we really looked at when he was appointed. His combination with Abhishek, they’re good friends, they know the team exceptionally well and I really feel like those two will lead from the front this season,” he added.

SRH acquires Ishan Kishan for Rs 11.25 crore in IPL 2025

However, Ishan Kishan joined Sunrisers Hyderabad last season as the franchise acquired him for Rs 11.25 crore. In 14 matches, he scored 354 runs at a strike rate of 152.58, including a century and a fifty.

Daniel Vettori

Daniel Vettori revealed the reason behind approaching Ishan Kishan for the big role of captaincy for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2026.

Vettori reveals the reason behind appointing Ishan Kishan as SRH captain

“I think he started last year where he was added a senior player to the group and the leadership that he exuded throughout that first season, particularly in the back half when he took over the wicketkeeping, it really brought energy to the group and set up our back half of the year and we were pretty successful in that period. So when Pat (Cummins) was unfortunately out of the initial stage of the tournament, we had some decisions to make and his (Kishan’s) experience with his state team in particular had been so impressive and then he was in really good form. So, between Abhishek and himself, we feel like we’ve got a really good leadership group to lead us this year.”

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The Times Of Bengal