Pat Cummins missed out as Sunrisers Hyderabad host Chennai Super Kings in their sixth match of the Indian Premier League 2026 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad, on Saturday, April 18. Cummins has returned to Hyderabad but isn’t part of the side, which looks to build on its success from the Rajasthan Royals win.
Cummins headed back home for scans for his lumbar stress injury and was cleared by Cricket Australia to join the SRH camp in the Indian cash-rich league. SRH shared a video of Cummins boarding the team bus for the CSK clash as they head to the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium.
Watch the Video here:
Is Cummins part of the Playing XI for the clash
No, Cummins is not playing this game and is set to miss SRH’s next game against the Delhi Capitals on April 21 as well. Recently, the Australian ODI and Test skipper confirmed that he is targeting a comeback on April 25. “Fly back Friday. Aiming for 25th vs RR,” Cummins replied to fans on Instagram.
Meanwhile, SRH head coach Daniel Vettori also stated that Cummins would likely be back for the April 25 game. “He’s flying today so he will be with us I think this evening,” Vettori said. “The plan is for the 25th,” he added, putting to rest any speculation around Cummins’ immediate return.
CSK opt to bowl against SRH
Meanwhile, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and opted to bowl first. There is no MS Dhoni, but Matthew Short returns, while Mukesh Choudhary plays his first game of the season.ย
“It’s good to be up from the bottom, definitely. But I think from the second game, we started doing basic things right. Our batting was good, our bowling was good, our fielding has been 50-50. But I think in all departments, we have been doing really well. And the key today is to just stay consistent and just do the basic things right,” Gaikwad said at the toss.
“(Good to see different players perform?) Yes, obviously, last game I felt, Noor bowled really well. Good to have him back on track and definitely, even in the death, Anshul bowled really well. So a couple of guys stepping up in the bowling helps a lot. It gives me a lot of confidence and the team a lot of confidence. So, really looking forward to it. (What do you make of the surface?) In your language, it looks like abelter, but you never know how it will be. We’ll look to assess it as soon as possible and, you know, look to restrict them as low as possible,” he added.
SRH make one change
Meanwhile, SRH made one change to the team that defeated RR. “I think we would have batted first. Looks like a good wicket so we want to put up a good total. You have to bat for the team and not for individual performances. We just have to take it game by game and it doesn’t matter where we are right now because it’s a long tournament. I think the ball is going to move a bit in the beginning and the batters have to watch the ball and play well. Dilshan Madushanka comes in for Harsh Dubey for more swing upfront,” Kishan said at the toss.