David Payne replaces injured Jack Edwards in SRH squad for IPL 2026

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have roped in England cricketer David Payne as an injury replacement for Australian all-rounder Jack Edwards ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Payne joins the franchise for INR 1.5 crore and will be available for SRH’s opening match against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

The 35-year-old Payne, who has represented England in a single ODI, is a left-arm seamer with extensive T20 experience. He has played 233 T20 matches, claiming 304 wickets at an average of 21.16. His sole international appearance came in 2022 against the Netherlands, where he shared the new ball with David Willey and picked up one wicket.

Domestically, Payne is Gloucestershire’s leading T20 wicket-taker and was the top wicket-taker in the 2024 T20 Blast, taking 33 wickets in 17 innings. He has also played for Welsh Fire in The Hundred, and had stints in the Big Bash League (BBL), winning a title with Perth Scorchers and playing for Adelaide Strikers in between. Additionally, he has appeared for the Desert Vipers in the ILT20 for two seasons.

SRH confirmed that Edwards, who was bought for INR 3 crore at the auction, will miss the season due to injury. The franchise is also set to miss Pat Cummins at the start of the tournament, with Ishan Kishan named interim captain. Cummins has struggled with a back stress injury that requires careful management, which limited him to just one match in the Ashes 2025-26 five-Test series and ruled him out of the T20 World Cup.

Ishan recently led Jharkhand to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title and soon after made a national comeback to help India clinch the T20 World Cup. He has also captained India A on multiple home and overseas assignments. Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma will have a limited role as vice-captain. Early in his career, he captained his state side in domestic cricket and also led the India Under-19 team in bilateral and multinational tournaments.

Sunrisers Hyderabad's squad for IPL 2026

Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, Brydon Carse, Eshan Malinga, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan, Jaydev Unadkat, Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins, R Smaran, Travis Head, Zeeshan Ansari, Shivang Kumar, Sakib Hussain, Salil Arora, Onkar Tarmale, Amit Kumar, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, David Payne