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On the 17th of November, Monday, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) organization revealed to the public their decision regarding the captaincy for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) confirmed the captaincy for the next IPL season by naming the World Cup-winning captain Pat Cummins once again as their leader in IPL 2026..

Pat Cummins to continue as captain for the Orange Army

The 32-year-old fast bowler of the Australian National Cricket Team Pat Cummins is considered one of the finest in global cricket. He has already led his team to a 50-over World Cup and ICC World Test Championship, thanks to his bowling masterclass and tactical brilliance.

When he was appointed the Australia captain, Sr. Hyderabad unleashed their financial power at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction and secured his services for a staggering INR 20.50 crore.

He was an anointed captain for IPL 2024, and the team under his leadership played a phenomenal style of cricket and reached the finale. But they were unable to claim the title and lost to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

The next season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 saw a drastic decline in their performance, and they ended up in the sixth position in the points table.

However, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have again shown their trust in him, and Pat Cummins will be in charge of the team for his third consecutive season in IPL 2026.

“P.S. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. Pat Cummins | #PlayWithFire,” the 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL) wrote on X, confirming the Australia pacer as captain

Pat Cummins Unavailable for the first match of the Ashes

Since July 2025, when he got a lumbar bone stress injury and was not playing at all, Pat Cummins has not been seen in competitive cricket. This led to his absence in several important matches, like the whole Indian series and the Ashes 2025-26 opener.

But just before the first Test, he resumed full-speed bowling in the Perth nets, which was a great morale booster for the Australian National Cricket Team.

In his column for the BBC, no less than the great Glenn McGrath, pointed out that the loss of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood for the Perth Test is a major setback for the Australians. He expressed this in his own words:

“Only a few days are left to the first Test and I can already feel the atmosphere of discord over the selection decisions in the Australia team. It goes without saying that losing the two fast bowlers with the highest quality, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, to injuries is a major setback for any team, even more so when a bowler is the captain. But which team would not suffer if two key players were injured? Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer were not available for the England side in their last Test against India at The Oval in July. England lost.”

Glenn McGrath in disbelief after the unavailability of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins

Glenn McGrath also went on to say that a radical change has occurred in the way bowlers are treated as compared to the past, they undergo regular scans and are not required to play through pain. He remarked:

“I do wonder what has been the process that led to both Cummins and Hazlewood being ruled out of Test 1. It seems there is so much difference between now and then with respect to the players’ decision-making and the people who are behind them influencing from outside the dressing room.

“No routine scans were done. If you were not at your best, but thought you could still carry on and last the whole match, you were taken to play but,now a player feels the urge to be extra cautious if he has niggle or something like that he is told to rest.”