Hyderabad, March 18 -- Australian white-ball captain Pat Cummins is set to miss the first few games of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season due to a back injury, with star India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan named as stand-in captain for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in his absence.

The Hyderabad-based franchise announced in a post on X that Cummins will miss "a few games" while recovering from a back injury sustained ahead of the 2025-26 Ashes. Notably, Cummins played one Ashes game before sitting out the remaining four due to the injury and also did not feature in the T20 World Cup 2026.

SRH announced that the wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan will captain the side in Cummins' absence and left-handed batter Abhishek Sha...