Sunrisers Hyderabad announced Pat Cummins as their captain for the IPL 2026 season right after Ravichandran Ashwin predicted that Travis HEad might lead the franchise. This means Cummins will be leading the side for the third time. Earlier, it was Aiden Markram who led the team in 2023, and the Australian captain succeeded him in 2024. SRH signed Cummins for a huge amount of INR 20.50 crore. The IPL captaincy is a reward for winning the 2023 ODI World Cup and the World Test Championship, both times beating India. As SRH's captain, Cummins led the team to the 2024 Play-off, however wad defeated badly by Shreyas Iyer's Kolkata Knight Riders. The team was known for its beastly batting, but it did not work in 2025. SRH could not even reach the playoffs this season. Read also: Is This the End of Glenn Maxwell in the IPL? Full Analysis Inside What did Ashwin say? Ashwin predicted that Travis head might lead the side, given Cummin's ongoing back injury. Cummins had been out of the first Ashes starting this Novemeber 30, due to this. Steve Smith will be leading the side. Whether Cummins will come back or not totally depends on his fitness. Meanwhile, Ashwin was discussing SRH's team planning, on his YouTube channel, where he highlighted Pat's persistent injuries. Ashwin was discussing about Mohammed Shami's trade to LSG and said, “SRH’s bowling is concerning. I would have thought once or twice more before releasing (Mohammed) Shami. Maybe Bharat Arun told Sanjiv Goenka to get Shami, and I will get the best out of him. Cummins’ injury is a concern; they might look towards Travis Head as captain." Notably, the franchise has also traded Mohammed Shami to the Lucknow Super Giants for INR 10 crores. Well, ahead of the IPL 2026 season, Sunrisers Hyderabad have parted ways with Abhinav Manohar, Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby, Wiaan Mulder, Simarjeet Singh, Rahul Chahar, and Adam Zampa. SRH's retained players: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, R Smaran, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Kamindu Mendis, Harshal Patel, Brydon Carse, Pat Cummins (C), Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari