Former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh, Abhishek Sharma’s mentor, has said that it is disappointing that a player who has given his “heart and soul” to the franchise “for years” will miss out on leading the team. SRH announced Ishan Kishan as stand-in captain for IPL 2026, snubbing Abhishek and the decision did not go down well with a section of fans and even some cricket experts.
One of the biggest talking points leading up to the start of IPL 2026 was Sunrisers Hyderabad’s choice of captain in the absence of regular skipper Pat Cummins. SRH announced Ishan Kishan as the stand-in captain, ignoring Abhishek Sharma and the decision did not go down well with a section of fans and even cricket experts.
Now, former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh, Abhishek’s mentor, has said that it is disappointing that a player who has given his “heart and soul” to the franchise “for years” will miss out on leading the team. “It’s disappointing. I love Ishan Kishan. I’ve seen his growth in Indian cricket as well, his comeback as well,” Yuvraj Singh said on SportsTak Podcast. “If I give you an example, change this from a player’s perspective – let’s say if, before the World Cup, Abhishek Sharma joins the team, his state team wins, he scores a hundred in the final, he joins the World Cup team, scores runs and is the captain of the franchise.
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“On the other hand, Ishan Kishan, who played for one team for seven years, gave an outstanding performance, gave his heart and soul for the franchise and also captained the state team as well, but he did not get the captaincy; he got the vice-captainship. Now what frame of mind is he playing franchise cricket with – with a bit of disappointment.” However, Yuvraj Singh opined that this snub is something that Abhishek should take as motivation and try to do better than what he is currently doing.
“If this happens to me, I have to be clear, ‘Listen, this has happened, I am disappointed.’ I spoke to Abhishek as well and told him that we will put this disappointment aside and I will support my captain and try to do better, because something has hurt me, in order to do better.”
This should be your motivation,” Yuvraj said. While there have been official communications from SRH as to why Kishan was chosen over Abhishek, the general feeling is that Ishan, who returned to the Indian team after two years and had an impressive World Cup campaign in which he scored 317 runs, leading his home state team Jharkhand to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – India’s premier domestic T20 tournament – including a century in the final and 517 runs in the tournament – was the ideal choice for the stop-gap ranking.
Further explaining Kishan’s selection as captain by SRH, Yuvraj looked back at his career in India and the time when MS Dhoni became India’s captain in 2007 despite the presence of senior players. “For example, when I was in the Indian team, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag were seniors, I was vice-captain, but out of nowhere MS Dhoni comes and becomes captain. Whatever the reasons may be… Cricket franchise will not decide whether you captain India or not,” he said.
reconnaissance
Do you think Ishan Kishan is ready for the role of captain in the Indian Premier League?
You look at Shubman Gill; Because everyone felt that he is the hardest working and most dedicated player in the game, he thinks about cricket in a different way, and the selectors felt that this is a man who should captain India. Maybe in the same way Dhoni became a leader. “If someone is destined to become a leader, to do great things for India, it will happen,” Yuvraj said. Cummins, who captained SRH in 2024 and 2025, is recovering from a back injury and, despite joining the SRH squad, is still not available for selection. The injury had ruled him out of the 2026 T20 World Cup. Despite this, the Australian gave his stamp of approval on Ishan’s promotion, saying: “Ishan has had a really successful spell in charge with his local team in the last year or so.”