Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori believes Ishan Kishan’s leadership role will enhance both his batting and wicketkeeping as he leads the side in Pat Cummins’ absence during the first half of IPL 2026.
With Cummins unavailable on the field, SRH are missing not only a key fast bowler but also an experienced white-ball captain. However, the Australian has remained with the squad in India and continues to contribute to leadership discussions, something Vettori says has helped ease the transition.
Leadership opportunity for Kishan
Speaking ahead of SRH’s match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata, Vettori expressed confidence in Kishan’s ability to take on the role and grow into it.
“We’re fortunate enough that Pat has been around the group and he’s been able to have conversations with Ishan about his captaincy style,” Vettori said. “But Ishan has been highly successful in his captaincy career so far. So whilst it can be slightly different, we don’t look at [no Cummins on the field] as a negative at all [from the point of view of captaincy].
“As you saw by Ishan’s performance in the first game, he loves leadership, he loves being out there and I think it can have a real positive effect on his batting and keeping. As he gets to understand the group and the dynamic, he’s going to put his mark on it and I have no doubt that he will be a very effective leader for us.”
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Strong form with the bat
Kishan has been in impressive touch since returning to India’s T20I setup in 2026, scoring 532 runs from 257 balls. He also made a strong start to IPL 2026 with a 38-ball 80 in the opening match, the highest score of the game despite SRH ending up on the losing side.
Vettori highlighted Kishan’s attacking approach and adaptability against different bowling styles.
“There’s a very slim room for error [when bowling to Kishan] and his ability to hit both sides of the wicket, hit behind the wicket and then deal with the full ball aggressively means he puts pressure back on that bowler straight away,” Vettori said. “There’s no style of bowling that he’s ineffective against, so you can’t stifle him with spin. And pace bowling, he deals exceptionally well.
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“So straight away, when he walks out to the crease, he’s got confidence and an understanding of his game that he can take it on. He is prepared to take a bowler on from ball one and that puts a lot of pressure.
“He has been around for a long time, even though he’s so young, but he has a real confidence in his game and I think that’s born out of the success [with Jharkhand] in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament, being re-selected for India, and the success with India.”
Respect for KKR’s spin threat
Looking ahead to the clash against Kolkata Knight Riders, Vettori stressed that SRH would not underestimate Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, despite both having quiet outings in their opening match against Mumbai Indians.
“I think there’s an immense amount of respect around those two and what they’ve done for the franchise, what they’ve done for their country, so in no way will we be taking them lightly, even if they didn’t have their best day of the last game,” Vettori said. “They’ve proven themselves time and time again, particularly at this venue, so the battle against those two tomorrow will be one of the key aspects of the game.”
He also noted that the pitch — previously used for the New Zealand vs South Africa T20 World Cup semi-final — appeared to have more grass than usual, suggesting less turn and more assistance in terms of the ball holding on the surface.
