IPL 2026: Sunrisers Hyderabad hope for Nitish Reddy’s return

HYDERABAD: Sunrisers Hyderabad’s head coach Daniel Vettori said that the team is focused on against a very good side in Punjab Kings.“Anyone can beat anyone on a given day. We are sure about the importance of this game but we also understand that they are at the top of the table for a reason,” he said.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Vettori hoped that Nitish Kumar Reddy will pass the fitness test. “He’s feeling a lot better. We don’t see a situation where he won’t play tomorrow.” Asked if Nitish’s absence affected the team’s performance, Vettori said: “Nitish is like a Marco Jansen or a Marcus Stoinis in the Punjab team. They just offer so much balance to a lineup and makes my life a lot easier when it comes to selecting the team.” The Kiwi also felt that Punjab rely heavily on their openers Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya. “Their opening combination had complementary performances from their batting line-ups. Like us they they’re very aggressive with the bat. So you would anticipate a high-scoring game and it’s the bowling unit that can deal with that pressure really.”Punjab Kings’ assistant coach Brad Haddin echoed similar sentiments. “SRH are a strong side and we need to get early wickets. Don’t let (Travis) Head and Abhishek (Sharma) bat long” he said when asked about the plan.The back-to-back losses are not concerning for the Australian. “It is about playing your best cricket right at the end of the tournament and that’s what our team is striving for. They’re striving for that perfect game. If we find that, we’ll be hard to beat and that’s what we wanted to be throughout the whole tournament,” he said.