SRH and KKR finalize changes ahead of IPL clash in 2026

Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders announced their starting XIs and Impact Players for Sunday's IPL match in Hyderabad.

SRH win toss and choose to bat Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins called heads and elected to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders under a scorching Hyderabad sun. The hosts made two alterations to their lineup, with Nitish Kumar Reddy ruled out due to illness. In his place, Karnataka’s young talent R Smaran stepped onto the field for his maiden IPL appearance. Meanwhile, left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey was dropped as seam-bowling allrounder Harshal Patel earned a spot in the XI. ## KKR shuffle their lineup Kolkata Knight Riders also introduced two changes to their starting side. Finn Allen replaced his fellow New Zealand player Tim Seifert, while Manish Pandey was drafted in place of allrounder Ramandeep Singh. Pacer Matheesha Pathirana continued to miss his second straight fixture, though the team’s bowling coach Tim Southee noted that the bowler has been practicing effectively in the nets. ## SRH eye another win and top spot Sunrisers Hyderabad have claimed five consecutive victories and need just one more to claim the top position on the points table with Sunday’s result. Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain are the likely candidates to take on the Impact Player role when SRH take the field. The final call will depend on whether they chase or defend a total later in the evening. ## KKR name Allen for Impact Player duty For Kolkata Knight Riders, Finn Allen will be available from the Impact Subs bench when his team comes out to bat. The franchise has kept several options open, including Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, and Tim Seifert, among others. ## Confirmed XIs for both sides Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Travis Head, 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Heinrich Klaasen, 5 Salil Arora (wk), 6 Aniket Verma, 7 R Smaran, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Shivang Kumar, 10 Harshal Patel, 11 Eshan Malinga. ## SRH Impact Player bench - Harsh Dubey - Praful Hinge - Liam Livingstone - Sakib Hussain - Zeeshan Ansari ## KKR starting XI and bench Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 2 Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), 3 Cameron Green, 4 Rovman Powell, 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Anukul Roy, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Vaibhav Arora, 10 Kartik Tyagi, 11 Varun Chakravarthy. ## KKR Impact Player options - Finn Allen - Ramandeep Singh - Tejasvi Dahiya - Navdeep Saini - Tim Seifert