IPL 2026: Is Nitish Kumar Reddy playing in SRH vs PBKS Match 49?

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are hosting Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Match 49 of the ongoing Indian Premier League 2026 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

Both teams are placed in the top four of the competition but are coming off the back of losses in their last game. The Sunrisers were beaten by the Kolkata Knight Riders after a five-game winning streak. The Kings started their season unbeaten with six wins and a washout in seven games but have lost their last two games, against the Rajasthan Royals and the Gujarat Titans.

SRH vs PBKS: Toss Update

The Punjab Kings won the toss and chose to field first. Shreyas Iyer spoke of the learnings from the previous losses, which give his team the motivation to get the two points in Hyderabad. Pat Cummins also wanted to bowl first and expects his team to return back to the form which saw them win five games in a row.

SRH bring in NKR; Punjab swap a couple

Nitish Kumar Reddy is set to feature for the Sunrisers Hyderabad against the Punjab Kings. He returns to the team after missing the previous game against the Kolkata Knight Riders due to illness. He plays in place of Aniket Verma. Sakib Hussain comes into the playing XI in place of Harshal Patel. Sakib came in as the impact player in the previous game. 

For the Punjab Kings, Shashank Singh and Lockie Ferguson return to the team in place of Nehal Wadhera and Xavier Bartlett.

What did the captains say?

Shreyas Iyer, Punjab Kings captain,

"We are going to bowl first. So far so good. We have got amazing learnings from the last 2 games. We have got 2 losses but still happy with being top on the table. There haven't been any complaints. People are putting the hard yards. You have to keep up and running. We are bunch of professionals, can't complain. The surface looks beautiful. There isn't a piece of grass. The last game we played against SRH on this wicket, they chased 240. Shashank and Lockie come in."

Pat Cummins, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain,

"Yeah, we would have had a bowl as well. But we have won a lot of games batting first so we aren't much upset. Yes, it has been a really good campaign for us. It wasn't our day last game but we won 5 games on the trot before that. Really positive group. We don't have to look far back. Hopefully more of the same tonight.They have been awesome since the last few years. They love to see awesome cricket and hopefully we are bring in more of that tonight. I can't read pitches. They all seem to be pretty high-scoring here. Maybe, it slows up a bit in the second innings. That's one positive when you are bowling second. Nitish is back from illness. He comes in for Aniket."

SRH vs PBKS: Playing XIs

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (capt), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain

Impact Substitutes: Aniket Verma, Praful Hinge, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel

Punjab Kings

Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Shashank Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact Substitutes: Priyansh Arya, Harpreet Brar, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Musheer Khan