NEW DELHI: Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL 2026 clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday. Both teams have already secured their spots in the playoffs.
"We'll bat first. I think it's a long shot getting in the top two, but we'll give it a good crack tonight. We've been pretty clear that the boys are going to enjoy it tonight. We're going to test out how good you are, maybe try a few new things ahead of the finals. But just, again, bat first, try and score as big as we can, see if we can defend," Cummins said during the toss.
(On this season) "Yeah, it's been really pleasing to get the qualification before this last game. The guys have been really consistent all year. So, yeah, this one is probably the last one before we start getting really serious," Cummins added.
"(On the supporters) They've been amazing here at Uppal. All the streets have been lined, the hotel's been busy the last few days. Yeah, we've won pretty much every night game here this season as well. So, hopefully, we finish off on a good note. Same combination as the last game," the Australian said.
For RCB, captain Rajat Patidar returned to lead the side after missing the previous match against Punjab Kings. "Wherever we go, we feel like it's a home game for us. It doesn't matter where you are, you have to maintain your standards every game. You have to tick a lot of boxes. Bethell has a finger injury, and I am back," Patidar said during the toss.
Playing XIs
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Jitesh Sharma(w), Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins(c), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain
Impact Substitutes
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact subs: Tim David, Kanishk Chouhan, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh, Jordan Cox
Sunrisers Hyderabad Impact subs: Praful Hinge, Aniket Verma, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel
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