SRH vs PBKS IPL 2026: Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to bounce back to winning ways as they host table-toppers Punjab Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Updated: May 6, 2026 12:37 PM IST
SRH vs PBKS IPL 2026: Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings face off in a table-toppers clash in match no. 49 of the IPL 2026 season at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Last year’s finalists PBKS are currently barely holding onto the top spot with 13 points but have suffered back-to-back losses after going unbeaten in the first-half of the season.
SRH, on the other hand, were brought back down to earth after five successive wins by Kolkata Knight Riders in their last home match over the weekend. The home team were missing the services of all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy in the last match due to illness but should be available to play in Wednesday night’s clash.
“Every team has that player who makes selection quite straightforward. Against KKR, we picked Smaran Ravichandran as we needed a batter and then had to maneuver around for another seamer. Nitish, much like a Marco Jansen or Marcus Stoinis, offers balance and makes my life a lot easier,” SRH head coach Daniel Vettori said in the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
With Reddy available for selection, Smaran will likely make way for him after a poor outing in his first appearance of the season against KKR. SRH may also drop pacer Praful Hinge, who has proven to be expensive after four wickets on his IPL debut against Rajasthan Royals last month.
For Shreyas Iyer’s PBKS, the fitness of batter Shashank Singh is their only concern. Shashank, who was retained for Rs 5.5 crore ahead of IPL 2026 season, has missed the last couple of matches due to injury. Nehal Wadhera stepped in for Shashank but has failed for fire so far this season.
“It looks like Shashank will run around and do everything today. That’s our only concern from a fitness point of view, (otherwise) we’ve got all our squad available now. And Shashank will have his last hit out today and hopefully that goes exactly how we think it will go,” PBKS assistant coach Brad Haddin said in the pre-match press conference.
PBKS are likely to stick with Vijaykumar Vyshak as their ‘Impact Player’ if bowling second with the pace bowler’s control in the death overs.
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— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) May 6, 2026
Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Punjab Kings IPL 2026 match no 49 Predicted 12
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Aniket Verma, Salil Arora, Pat Cummins (c), Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga, Shivang Kumar, Sakib Hussain
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (c), Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Singh/Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Vijaykumar Vyshak
