SRH Best Playing XI For IPL 2026- Pat Cummins Replacement Locked; Ishan Kishan At No 3

Pat Cummins & Travis Head in action (Source: AFP)

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) would like to complete a just outdated 10-year-challenge by reclaiming the IPL glory. The Orange Army last won the championship back in 2016 under the leadership of David Warner, and it has now been a decade since they last went close to the trophy (except IPL 2024 when they reached the final).

Led by Pat Cummins, SRH ended IPL 2025 by sitting sixth on the points table. They won six and lost seven matches, which did not help him to qualify for the playoffs.

SRH will have high-flying Ishan Kishan as captain in the initial part of IPL 2026. Even though Cummins will return later, the primary job will be on Ishan’s shoulders to set the tone for the upcoming edition.

As the Kavya Maran-led think tank made quite a few changes in the last IPL auction, let’s take a look at which could be their best playing XI for the next edition of the Indian Premier League.

SRH Best Playing XI For IPL 2026

Openers and top order: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan

When it comes to the top three, SRH boast of having the strongest core of all IPL teams. Abhishek Sharma and Ishan – the top two-ranked T20I batters in the world will be there once again, and they will be joined by the monster himself, Travis Head.

[Abhishek, Ishan & Head's IPL Stats]

The trio of Abhishek, Head and Ishan are the scariest for any bowling attack in the upcoming IPL edition, if not for any attack in the history of the competition.

Middle order and all-rounders: Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Liam Livingstone, Salil Arora (Impact Sub: Heinrich Klaasen)

This is an area where the Orange Army has not got the best reinforcements to help Ishan Kishan. Even though they have in-form Smaran Ravichandran in their squad, their middle order does not look promising.

If they perform altogether, their potential impact substitute Heinrich Klaasen must fire. Along with him, Nitish Kumar Reddy, who had a forgetful IPL 2025, would like to revive his form.

Along with them, the pressure will be on Liam Livingstone to give the finishing touches. Livingstone got a massive reward with an INR 13 crore contract for IPL 2026 in the last auction, and he is expected to complement Klaasen during the death overs.

Also Read: IPL 2026 Players List- Injury Replacements, Withdrawals From All Teams

Another important uncapped player to watch out for is Salil Arora. Arora smashed a century in SMAT 2025-26 in just 39 balls and was also seen in good touch during intra-squad games.

Therefore, Kavya-led Sunrisers, in all likelihood, will prefer him ahead of Aniket Verma, who was regular last season.

Bowlers: Harshal Patel, Zeeshan Ansari, Eshan Malinga, Jaydev Unadkat

With Pat Cummins not around for the initial matches, Sunrisers Hyderabad will hope the Sri Lankan pacer Eshan Malinga to step up in the bowling attack.

They will have the company of ever-consistent Harshal Patel and the immortal Jaydev Unadkat for the pace department, while Zeeshan Ansari has been projected as their designated spinner, who will majorly start the IPL matches.

To give Klaasen a room, Unadkat will make way in SRH's XI for IPL 2026.

Best SRH Playing XI For IPL 2026

Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head ✈️, Ishan Kishan (C/WK), Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Liam Livingstone ✈️, Salil Arora, Harshal Patel, Zeeshan Ansari, Eshan Malinga ✈️, Jaydev Unadkat

Impact Sub: Heinrich Klaasen ✈️ In For Jaydev Unadkat

Also Read: 3 Uncapped SRH Players To Watch Out For In IPL 2026