3 min readMar 20, 2026 09:12 PM IST
Former Indian cricketer Abhinav Mukund did not mince his words when he spoke about the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The southpaw acknowledged that while the batting of the side is 10, the bowling is 1, which is a big drop off. And the former player was also critical of the franchise for spending a whole lot of money on Liam Livingstone while they already had Henrich Klaasen.
“If their batting is a 10, their bowling is a 1, with a very big drop off. Their batting will hurt teams, and it’s the strongest in the competition. Just that makes them dangerous on a flat Hyderabad track. But the drop-off is too much in the bowling. They have so many who’ve not even played in the IPL. You came with a lot of money to the auction, and you ended up spending it on Liam Livingstone when you already have Klaasen, Head, and Abhishek Sharma,” said on ESPN cricinfo.
“They have a very inexperienced bowling lineup with guys who aren’t making their own first-class sides. Many are picked based on just scouting from the trials. I am surprised at how they have constructed their team. In the years they’ve done well, they’ve had Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Natarajan doing really well for them. But now it looks like Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat have to front-load this attack,” he added.
Ishan Kishan to captain
Ishan Kishan will take over the reins for a brief period with regular captain Pat Cummins still recovering from an injury after having previously missed out on the T20 World Cup. Besides Kishan, opener Abhishek Sharma was also promoted as the vice-captain of the side, the franchise confirmed.
“Pat Cummins will miss a few games while recovering from injury. Until he recovers, Ishan Kishan will be the Captain and Abhishek Sharma will be the Vice-Captain,” an SRH statement read.
Kishan has been on a hot streak since powering Jharkhand to their maiden domestic title in December 2025. Under Kishan’s leadership, Jharkhand clinced the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, with the dashing southpaw emerging as the highest run-getter of the season, aggregating 517 runs in 10 innings. He was soon backed for a return to the national colours after three years, eclipsing Shubman Gill to make the cut for India’s T20 World Cup squad the same month.
