SRH bat, Bethell out as Patidar returns for RCB

Sunrisers Hyderabad opt to bat vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain Pat Cummins said his team would set a score in their last league game of the season. against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Hyderabad. SRH, currently third and assured of playoffs qualification, are looking for a big win to finish in the top two.

Depending on their final total, SRH will need to win by a margin of 83-89 runs. Should they achieve that, then RCB - the current league leaders - will slip from No. 1 to No. 3. If RCB win, they will finish the IPL 2026 league stage as table toppers. Gujarat Titans, currently second, are assured of a top-two spot irrespective of tonight's result.

"It's a long shot getting to the top two,. we'll give it a crack tonight," Cummins said at the toss. SRH are fielding the same combination from their last game.

RCB made one change, with Rajat Patidar returning to the side and replacing Jacob Bethell. Patidar, the RCB captain, said Bethell had picked up a finger injury. The RCB team-sheet had Venkatesh Iyer pencilled in as opener alongside Virat Kohli. About the importance of the game. Patidar said: "according to me, it doesn't matter where you are on the points table. Every game you play, you have to match your standards."

The team batting first has won four of the six games played in Hyderabad this season.

SRH bat-first XI 1 Abhishek Sharma. 2 Travis Head, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Heinrich Klaasen, 5 Salil Arora, 6 R Smaran, 7 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Shivang Kumar, 10 Eshan Malinga, 11 Sakib Hussain. Impact options: Aniket Verma, Praful Hinge, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel

RCB field-first XI 1 Venkatesh Iyer. 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Romario Shepherd, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Rasikh Salam, 10 Suyash Sharma, 11 Josh Hazlewood. Impact options: Tim David, Kanishk Chouhan, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh, Jordan Cox