Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have appointed Ishan Kishan as the interim captain for the initial part of IPL 2026 while regular skipper Pat Cummins recovers from a back injury. Abhishek Sharma has been made the vice-captain. The decision surprised many, including Abhishek’s mentor Yuvraj Singh, who publicly expressed his disappointment.
SRH’s campaign started with a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 28, despite captain Kishan scoring a brilliant 80 off 38 balls on his debut. In their second match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens on 2 April, SRH registered their first win by 65 runs. Abhishek Sharma scored a blistering 48 runs off 21 balls, and along with Travis Head made a stormy opening partnership of 82 runs.
Yuvraj Singh, while speaking to Sports Tak (in a full podcast teaser released on April 3), criticized this choice of the franchise. Yuvraj said, “Abhishek Sharma has been playing for SRH for the last 7 years and has been performing well for them. He has given his all for the franchise. He is also captaining at the state level, but still he did not get the captaincy of SRH.” He underlined Abhishek’s long association and his leadership experience at the domestic level.
However, Abhishek faced disciplinary action in the match against KKR. After being given out caught by Varun Chakravarthy (a close decision which was confirmed on review), he expressed his dissent by lingering at the crease and gesturing in disappointment. The IPL match referee charged him with a Level 1 breach of the code of conduct. He was fined 25% of his match fee and given one demerit point. Abhishek accepted his mistake.
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