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Head coach Daniel Vettori on Friday said that the Sunrisers Hyderabad team management had little hesitation in handing over the stand-in captain's job to Ishan Kishan as he proved to be a "confident player and leader." Regular skipper Pat Cummins will miss the early stages of IPL 2026, owing to a back injury. "I think Ishan's been around in the IPL for a long period of time now. He's been with a number of teams and he's been highly successful, so, he brings in his own confidence around that," Vettori said in the pre-match press meet here on Friday. "The fact that he's led the U19s and his state team and they won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy this year brings a confident person, a confident player and a really confident leader and those are the attributes that we really looked at when he was appointed. "His combination with Abhishek, they're good friends, they know the team exceptionally well and I really feel like those two will lead from the front this season," he added. It also ma
Ishan Kishan on Sunday said his improved play on the off-side was behind his match winning effort against arch-rivals Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. Kishan's 77 off 40 balls on a tough pitch made the difference as India closed out a comfortable 61-run over the opposition. It seemed has batting on a different surface. Kishan, who has shown sizzling since his India comeback, was pleased with his performance in a 'special' game. He usually gets plenty of runs on the leg side but on Sunday his off side play was effective too. "I think the wicket wasn't that easy in the beginning. You just have to believe and focus on your strength. Wanted to make them run as much as possible to my side. I worked a lot on my off-side play. "I was just trying to keep it simple. I had that in mind that we need to put 160-170 runs and it will be a good total for us. India versus Pakistan is always a special game not only for us but for our country as well. "Winning this game against Pakistan will give us
Ishan Kishan displayed the menacing form he has shown of late in the India nets on Wednesday until being hit by a sharp Jasprit Bumrah delivery. Bumrah, bowling full tilt for the second day in a row, was a good sign for India, who missed his services in the T20 World Cup opener against USA. However, the same could not be said about Kishan who limped off the nets after being struck on the foot. Kishan did return to bat in the nets but not for long. However, Bumrah looks set to return to the playing eleven for the Namibia game, which will serve up as a warm up for him ahead of the Pakistan clash in Colombo on Sunday. "Bumrah is absolutely fine now. He's doing better. As I said, we still have one more day, so hopefully he'll be back in the team. If he continues to improve, the team management will take a call, and I think he could be back for the second game," said Tilak Varma on the eve of the game. Bumrah even took part in catching drills after his bowling stint. Sanju Samson, out