Ishan Kishan Captaincy Stats: How Good Is He Before SRH Role?

Ishan Kishan will take charge of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the opening matches of the Indian Premier League 2026 season, as regular skipper Pat Cummins continues his recovery from a back issue. During this phase, one of the best T20 batsmen in the world, Abhishek Sharma, has been named as the vice-captain.

Ishan Kishan SRH captaincy will only be for a brief period as it is a temporary setup, with Cummins expected to return as captain once he regains full fitness. The Australian captain is expected to arrive at the Sunrisers Hyderabad camp on March 23, where he will carry on his recovery process with the team in India. The exact number of matches Pat Cummins will miss is still uncertain. However, as per several media reports, he is likely to be sidelined for the opening three matches of the season.

Ishan Kishan Captaincy Record in T20

Although Ishan Kishan has not previously captained a team in the IPL, he comes with strong leadership records. He led India to the final of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016 and has also been the skipper of Jharkhand in 79 matches across formats.

More recently, he played a key role in guiding Jharkhand to its first-ever Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title. Ishan Kishan captaincy record in T20 is particularly impressive, having won 23 of the 29 matches he has led, resulting in a win rate of 79.31 per cent.

Kishan is set to begin his IPL captaincy journey on March 28 against one of the best teams in IPL, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. He would also become the 11th player to captain Sunrisers Hyderabad, and notably, the first Indian to lead the side since Bhuvneshwar Kumar in 2023.

Ishan Kishan Captaincy Record In IPL

The 27-year-old is set to make his captaincy debut in the IPL, and therefore, there are no captaincy stats available for Ishan Kishan. Meanwhile, SRH's regular skipper, Pat Cummins, has not played much cricket since December, when he appeared in only one Ashes Test in Adelaide. A back problem ruled him out both before and after that match, and he was also unavailable for the recently finished T20 World Cup.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad management had already decided that Ishan Kishan would take over the captaincy in the absence of Pat Cummins, even as discussions around SRH captaincy were all over the internet for the last few days. Both Kishan and Abhishek Sharma were important players to India’s recent ICC Men's T20 World Cup victory, but the franchise has gone with Kishan given his greater experience.

Kishan has played 119 matches in the Indian Premier League, compared to 77 appearances for the 25-year-old Abhishek. Over his IPL career, Kishan has scored 2,998 runs at an average close to 30, maintaining a strike rate of 137.