IPL 2026: SRH opt to bowl first against RR in Jaipur as Pat Cummins returns from injury

JAIPUR: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) won the toss and decided to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in match 36 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Saturday.

SRH’s full-time captain Pat Cummins came for the toss and will feature for the first time in this year’s IPL after missing almost the first half of the season. He was recovering from a lumbar bone stress injury in his back. Cummins replaced Dilshan Madushanka, and Praful Hinge was added to the playing XI, replacing Harsh Dubey.

Speaking during the toss, Cummins said, “We’re going to have a bowl first. The wicket looks good, but we have to see what we need to chase down. (How are you feeling?) Still really fresh. It’s been a little while, but I’ve had really good preparation, a couple of bowls over here. I haven’t played a game for a while, so we’ll see how we go. But the body feels awesome. I’ve come in for Madushanka, and Hinge has come in for Harsh Dubey.”

TOSS @SunRisers won the toss & will field first against @rajasthanroyals in Jaipur.

Updates https://t.co/PVdpjhxVEy#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #RRvSRH pic.twitter.com/SljhS4QUcs

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 25, 2026

RR skipper Riyan Parag said, “We were looking for the same as well, but having said that, last couple of seasons, we’ve not really done well chasing. So I’m happy with defending as well. I think we played most of our cricket here, the majority of our cricket here. We know this wicket really well. We have had our camp right because the season started as well. Seems like a pretty good wicket. Maybe a little bit of dew coming in later on, but it won’t really play that much of a role. I feel the openers have done really well, but they can keep on doing well, and hopefully we can pick up our slack. (Combination the same?) No, we’re going for one instead of three two.”

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora(w), Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins(c), Shivang Kumar, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge, Eshan Malinga

SRH Impact subs: Smaran Ravichandran, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Travis Head.

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel(w), Riyan Parag(c), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma

RR Impact Subs: Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Bishnoi, Ravi Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Shubham Dubey. (ANI)