Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and chose to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL 2026 clash. Captain Pat Cummins cited a good, high-scoring pitch as the reason, backing his team's aggressive and in-form batting lineup.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) won the toss and opted to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match on Sunday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. After winning the toss, SRH captain Pat Cummins said the team chose to bat first as the pitch looked good for a high-scoring game despite the heat. He credited the team's success to both young players and experienced ones finding form, with consistent high totals and everyone committing to an aggressive and positive style of play.
What the captain said
"We'll bat first. Pitch looks good and it's very hot, we'll bat and post a total. I'm not good at reading the pitches, it looks nice and must be high scoring. I think the thing is the young guys have come in and been fantastic. A lot of the stalwarts, as well, have really hit their stride. I think we've got over 220 all but one game. So it just feels like everyone's, you know, found their rhythm, built themselves in the tournament, playing that style that we want, which is really positive and everyone's bought into that," Cummins said at the toss presentations.
Team Form and Playoff Scenario
SRH have been impressively consistent this season, securing six wins from nine matches so far. With 12 points on the board, they currently sit third in the IPL 2026 standings. A victory against the Kolkata Knight Riders would further strengthen their already strong chances of making the playoffs. Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders had a poor start to their Indian Premier League 2026 campaign despite having bounced back with a couple of recent wins. Led by Ajinkya Rahane, the side has only managed two wins in eight matches so far, with one no-result.
SRH vs KKR: Playing 11s
SRH vs KKR playing 11s: Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Smaran Ravichandran, Pat Cummins(c), Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga SRH Impact Sub options: Praful Hinge, Harsh Dubey, Liam Livingstone, Sakib Hussain, Zeeshan Ansari Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy. KKR Impact Sub options: Finn Allen, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert. (ANI)
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