Why was Ishan Kishan made the stand-in captain of SRH? Daniel Vettori told

Bengaluru. Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori said on Friday that the team management had no hesitation in taking the decision of making Ishan Kishan the acting captain because he is a very confident player and captain. Regular captain Pat Cummins will be out of the initial matches of IPL 2026 due to a back injury. Vettori said before the match, 'Ishaan has been playing IPL for a long time. He has played with many teams and has been quite successful. He is full of confidence.

He said, 'He has been the captain of Under-19 teams and his state team which won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy this year. He is a confident player and captain, that is why he has been given the captaincy. He said, 'Abhishek and he have good coordination. Both are good friends and know the team well. Both will together lead the team this season.

Vettori said that Cummins could return to captaincy in the next two weeks. He said, 'His fitness has been very good and due to being out of the game for some time, he also had time to work on his fitness. The challenge was the weight of the bowling and once we get the approval from Cricket Australia, it can come in the next 10-12 days.

First encounter with RCB
Sunrisers Hyderabad's first clash in IPL 2026 is with Royal Challengers Bangalore. This is also the opening match of this season. This match will be played on March 28 at RCB's home ground M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Talking about the head to head record of both the teams, so far 26 matches have been played between RCB and SRH. SRH has been victorious in 14 matches, while RCB has won 11 matches. 1 match is tied. In the last 5 matches, RCB has won 2 and SRH has won 3 matches. Both these teams will be eyeing to start the season with a win. The match is expected to be exciting because both the teams are full of explosive batsmen.