🏏 IPL 2026 Match 10th SRH vs LSG at Hyderabad 🏏

Both Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants arrive in Hyderabad still searching for early-season clarity, albeit from different starting points. SRH have already experienced both ends of the spectrum - a comprehensive loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru followed by a more assured win over Kolkata Knight Riders - with their batting showing better structure. LSG, meanwhile, come in after a defeat to Delhi Capitals that exposed questions around both selection and execution, particularly with a reshuffled order featuring Rishabh Pant at the top. For both sides, this fixture is as much about settling combinations as it is about early points.

SRH's improvement against KKR was driven by a more cohesive batting effort even though they got 200 in both their games so far. Their openers provided a stronger platform, allowing the middle order to capitalise - a contrast to the RCB game. The bowling unit also looked more aligned, managing phases better after being taken apart in the opener. Returning home now, the focus will be on sustaining that batting tempo while tightening execution with their bowling.

LSG's concerns are more structural. The move to push Pant up disrupted their usual batting flow without yielding returns, and the middle order struggled to recover after early wickets. A total of 141 left their bowlers with little margin for error, and despite brief periods of control, there wasn't enough scoreboard pressure. Heading into this game, the key decisions revolve around whether to persist with that approach or revert to a more settled order.

When: Match 10, Sunday, April 5 at 3:30 PM IST

Where: Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad

What to expect: Lots of runs. With SRH's attack-at-all-costs method, Hyderabad has laid out batting-friendly pitches in the last couple of years, with the team even posting 286 in their first game last season. That said, there have been some middling totals in the Syed Mushtaq Ali games held here. Meanwhile, a yellow alert has been issued across Telangana till April 7, with thunderstorms expected over the next five days.

Head to head: LSG lead the head-to-head against SRH, with a 4-2 record, including a win against them in Hyderabad last year when they chased down a total of 190 in only 16.1 overs

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Injuries/unavailability: Brydon Carse has missed the first two games due to an injury to his hand sustained during training. Should he be fit, he could replace David Payne. Pat Cummins is still set to miss this game.

Tactics & match-ups: Given Harshal Patel's strong record against Rishabh Pant (four dismissals in seven innings) and Aiden Markram (two in four), SRH could consider bringing him back into the XI. Harshal is well versed with the conditions here and boasts an impressive record at the venue, having picked up 19 wickets in six innings.

Probable XII: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (c & wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar / Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Brydon Carse / David Payne, Eshan Malinga

Lucknow Super Giants

Injuries/unavailability: LSG do not have any known injury concerns at the moment.

Tactics & match-ups: Match-ups drove Rishabh Pant's decision to promote himself up the order earlier, primarily to counter Axar Patel's left-arm spin. With Dubey and Shivang (if he plays) both offering left-arm options, Pant could again move up to open, although he has indicated that persisting with the role remains "a 50-50 call".

Probable XII: Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Aiden Markram, Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Digvesh Rathi, Mohammed Shami, Anrich Nortje, Mohsin Khan, Prince Yadav

Did you know?

- SRH have won eight matches after posting 200-plus while batting first since 2024 - the most by any team in the IPL in this period. Their win percentage of 88.9 is second only to RCB, who boast a 100 percent record (6/6) when setting 200-plus targets (minimum two matches).

- Since March 2024, Abhishek Sharma has scored 635 runs in 16 innings in T20s in Hyderabad, averaging 42.33 and a strike rate of 227.59, with five fifties and a hundred.

- Marsh and Markram were the second-best opening pair in terms of aggregates in IPL 2025, only behind GT's Gill-Sudharsan, scoring 574 runs in 12 innings at 47.83.

- As an opener in the IPL and internationals, Pant has scored only 203 runs in 11 innings at an average of 18.45 and a strike rate of 130.96, with a lone half-century

Big picture - a tale of two captains

It's been almost exactly ten years since the day Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan opened the batting together for India at the Under-19 World Cup final in Dhaka. In the decade that followed, one prodigious talent made his mark for his outrageous shots and chutzpah in Tests away from home, while the other did so with his blistering strike rate in white-ball cricket.

While both have been hard to ignore, the attention on Pant was always greater than Kishan. Over the last 18 months, though, that story has flipped. Pant, a T20 World Cup winner himself in 2024, has since slipped out of India's T20I plans, while Kishan has pushed his way firmly back into contention with strong form in domestic cricket and then in his second run with the India T20I side. As it stands, Pant is still searching for his best batting position in the format, while Kishan, also a T20 World Cup winner, is among the most destructive No. 3s and far more assured of his game.

If their journeys have diverged, so have the teams they now lead. Lucknow Super Giantsbegan their season with a defeat at the hands of Punjab Kings after being all out for 141 while Sunrisers Hyderabad, after a loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, responded with a win in Kolkata that blended attacking batting with a bowling unit willing to adapt on the fly.

Ten years on from Dhaka, the paths of two once-prodigies cross again, this time as captains. An afternoon start in Hyderabad is unlikely to offer much respite for bowlers and will bring into focus how the wicketkeeping batters lead their sides.

Team news - Cummins out of action

Pat Cummins is in Australia for a fitness test and will continue to be unavailable for SRH. If Brydon Carse - who had a bruised hand for the first two SRH games - is fit, then he could replace David Payne in the XI. SRH will also need to decide between seamer Harshal Patel and left-arm wristspinner Shivang Kumar.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (probable) 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Travis Head, 3 Ishan Kishan (capt, wk), 4 Heinrich Klaasen, 5 Aniket Verma, 6 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 7 Salil Arora, 8 Harsh Dubey, 9 Shivang Kumar/Harshal Patel, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Eshan Malinga, 12 David Payne/Brydon Carse.

On match eve, LSG bowling coach Bharat Arun said Digvesh Rathi will play in Hyderabad after missing the first game. There are no fitness concerns just yet.

Lucknow Super Giants (probable) 1 Mitchell Marsh, 2 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 3 Aiden Markram, 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Ayush Badoni, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Mukul Choudhary, 8 Mohammad Shami, 9 Anrich Nortje, 10 Prince Yadav, 11 Mohsin Khan, 12 Digvesh Rathi

In the spotlight - Nicholas Pooran and Shivang Kumar

Nicholas Pooran has not crossed 17 in seven of his last eight T20s with form eluding him in the SA20 in January and no cricket in February and March. He has scored only 121 runs across 99 balls in T20s this calendar year and is averaging 15. He has also hit only nine sixes in his last eight T20s. He started IPL 2026 with a sluggish eight-ball 8. Can a batting-friendly Hyderabad surface just be what he needs to turn his fortunes around?

As a left-arm wristspinner, Shivang Kumar is a rarity in the IPL and could be a point of difference in the SRH XI. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he took a five-wicket haul against Karnataka and scored a half-century against Jharkhand. In Kolkata, he conceded only two runs more than Sunil Narine and had much better figures than Varun Chakravarthy. A good enough show to give him a run in the afternoon game in Hyderabad?

Stats and trivia

• Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head have blistering numbers against LSG. Abhishek averages 40 in five innings while scoring at 228.57. Head averages 136 in two innings while scoring at 234.48.

• Despite his poor batting form, SRH happens to be Pooran's favourite team to face. He is the only batter in T20 franchise cricket history to score 300-plus runs, average 50-plus, and strike at 200-plus against the same opponent.

• In the last 12 months, Mitchell Marsh's strike-rate has been equally good against pace (152.7) and spin (150.99). However, he averages 48.18 against spin compared to 35.51 against pace.

Pitch and conditions

The last time an afternoon game happened on this surface (pitch no. 2), SRH pumped 286 while Rajasthan Royals responded with 242. In the last six games on this pitch, the honours have been shared 3-3 between sides batting first and chasing. However, on this occasion, there is some risk of weather threatening the match with rain forecast in the afternoon.