Summary of this article
26-year-old SRH spinner Ansari was seen giving a send-off to Kishan during a practice match
SRH will be without the injured Cummins for first few games
Kishan-led SRH take on RCB in IPL 2026 opening game
SunRisers Hyderabad's 26-year-old spinner Zeeshan Ansari was involved in a heated send-off to his stand-in team captain Ishan Kishan during the side's practice match on Saturday, March 21.
The incident took place during the eighth over of the match's second innings wherein Ansari, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, took the ball in his hands when Kishan was batting. The stand-in captain hit the first four deliveries of the spinner to all parks of the ground which left Ansari irritated.
On the fifth delivery, Ansari dismissed Kishan as the T20 World Cup winner ended up slogging the ball to deep square leg. An animated Ansari gave a heated send-off to his captain, with the latter returning the favour with a smile.
SRH and their fans would hope the visuals were just the competitive edge on the field rather than trouble brewing inside the camp. Ansari remains a key component of SRH's bowling arsenal, who will be missing their star pacer, Pat Cummins.
Speaking about Ansari, the spinner picked up six wickets in ten matches last campaign. However, SRH will be buoyed by the fact that Ansari has been in terrific form coming into IPL 2026, picking up 21 wickets in his last 8 games.
Kishan on the other hand, will lead SunRisers in the absence of Pat Cummins, who is expected to return until mid-April due to injury. The Hyderabad outfit kick-start their IPL 2026 campaign against the holders, Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 28 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
IPL 2026: Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad
Abhishek Sharma, Amit Kumar, Aniket Verma, Brydon Carse, Eshan Malinga, Harshal Patel, Harsh Dubey, Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan, Jack Edwards, Jaydev Unadkat, Kamindu Mendis, Krains Fuletra, Liam Livingstone, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Onkar Tarmale, Pat Cummins (C), Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain, Salil Arora, Shivam Mavi, Shivang Kumar, Smaran Ravichandran, Travis Head, Zeeshan Ansari.
IPL 2026: Sunrisers Hyderabad Schedule
March 28: vs RCB, Bengaluru
April 2: vs KKR, Kolkata
April 5: vs LSG, Hyderabad
April 11: vs PBKS, Mullanpur
