IPL 2026: Predicting Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) strongest playing XI

With players like Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Pat Cummins, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Heinrich Klaasen, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) had one of the best teams in the 2025 Indian Premier League. SRH did not place in the top four the previous season despite having such a strong lineup.

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On Tuesday, December 16, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) had an intriguing experience during the 2026 Indian Premier League auction. They had a lot of holes to fill going into the tournament, and even while they may not have chosen their first choice, they still made some wise selections.

Through the mini-auction, they gained seasoned stars like Salil Arora, Jack Edwards, Shivam Mavi, and Liam Livingstone in addition to a number of new talents. With these talents, let’s have a look at the strongest SRH playing XI.

Here is the predicted Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) strongest playing XI for IPL 2026:

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has one of the most explosive top fours in the entire Indian Premier League (IPL 2026). The combined hitting ability of these four players put fear into opposition bowlers.

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma will open the innings for SRH. Head scored over 300 runs in IPL 2025, while Abhishek Sharma hammered over 400 runs in both IPL 2024 and 2025. They have given flying starts to the SRH team in all games.

Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen will come in at no. 3 and no. 4 in the SRH batting lineup. Kishan hammered a century for SRH in his first season for them in IPL 2025, and given his current brilliant form in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he’ll be the one under the limelight.

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The foundation of SRH's middle order is anticipated to be Heinrich Klaasen. He has demonstrated his ability to control bowling attacks by scoring over 400 runs in three straight IPL seasons while keeping a strike rate above 170.

Liam Livingstone was a brilliant buy for SRH in IPL 2026, and he’ll add more firepower to the already impressive batting lineup and also give SRH a spin bowling option as well. Nitish Kumar Reddy will be the pace bowling all-rounder for SRH and will hope to have a breakout year.

Harsh Dubey and Zeeshan Ansari are expected to be the two spinners in the SRH XI. Dubey is also a capable batter, giving depth to the SRH batting order.

Pat Cummins will lead the SRH team in the IPL 2026 and will also be the lead pace bowler of the team. He will be joined by two of the most experienced India and IPL bowlers in Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat. Harshal has been a purple cap winner for most wickets twice in IPL history, and Unadkat has an IPL hat trick to his name.

Shivam Mavi and Aniket Sharma are the most likely impact players for the SRH squad.

Predicted Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) strongest playing XI for IPL 2026:

Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (WK), Heinrich Klaasen, Liam Livingstone, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (C), Harsh Dubey, Jaydev Unadkat, Harshal Patel, Zeeshan Ansari.

Impact Player Options: Aniket Verma, Harsh Dubey, Shivam Mavi.

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