IPL 2026 Match 36: Cummins Back In Charge As SRH Opt To Bowl First Against RR

Indian Premier League 2026 action continued as Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and decided to field first against Rajasthan Royals in the 36th match at Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Saturday.

Pat Cummins returned to the side and took over captaincy duties for the first time this season.

The team management brought Cummins in place of Dilshan Madushanka, while Praful Hinge replaced Harsh Dubey in the playing XI.

SRH approached the fixture after securing a convincing win over the Delhi Capitals. They have recorded four victories in seven matches and currently hold the fourth position on the points table with eight points and a net run rate of +0.820.

Rajasthan Royals also entered the contest on the back of a strong performance against Lucknow Super Giants. They have claimed five wins from seven games and sit second in the standings with ten points and a net run rate of 0.790.

After winning the toss, Cummins reflected on his return and the team’s approach.

“We’re going to have a bowl first. The wicket looks good, but we have to see what we need to chase down. 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,” he said.

“We know the pitch really well in Hyderabad. I think the challenge when you go play away is trying to sense what a good score is, what short work or ball work. So I think it’s the first game for this venue for the season, so it’ll be a challenge for both teams. Yeah, I’ve come in for Madushanka, and Hinge has come in, Harsh Dubey,” he added.

After losing the toss, RR captain Riyan Parag said, “We were looking to do that as well. But the last couple of seasons, we have not done well chasing, no problems batting first. We know the wicket really well. We had our camp here. There might be dew, but it won’t be too much. Last year we fell short by a couple of overs, just want to put a collective 40 overs. The middle order has to step up and the others.”

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

Impact Substitutes: Ravi Bishnoi, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Shubham Dubey, Sandeep Sharma

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

Impact Substitutes: Travis Head, Smaran Ravichandran, Harsh Dubey, Liam Livingstone, Harhal Patel

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