After winning the toss against the Delhi Capitals in Sunday’s afternoon Indian Premier League (IPL) match in Visakhapatnam, Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins decided to bat first. Each of the two clubs has made one alteration to their starting lineup.
KL Rahul, who replaced Samir Rizvi, made his IPL debut for the Delhi Capitals in an expected manner. Fans, however, raised their eyebrows when Pat Cummins revealed the modification for SRH.
Zeeshan Ansari was added to the playing XI, and Sunrisers Hyderabad left pacer Simarjeet Singh. It is interesting to note that Simarjeet Singh is on the list of substitutes, indicating that the change was made strategically rather than due to an injury.
With the inclusion of leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari, it allows Pat Cummins to bring in an Indian substitute for Australia Adam Zampa. Zeeshan Ansari was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹30 lakh during the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Who’s Zeeshan Ansari?
Zeeshan Ansari, 25, was born in Lucknow and made his Uttar Pradesh T20 debut against Uttarakhand in 2019. Before making his debut against the Delhi Capitals on Sunday, it turned out to be the leggie’s only T20 match in his domestic career.
Zeeshan Ansari only played five games in the first-class league, yet he scored 523 runs in those five games. After making an impression in the Uttar Pradesh T20 competition the previous year, the UP cricket player gained attention.
Scouts from Sunrisers Hyderabad took notice of his 24 wickets for the eventual winners, the Meerut Mavericks, in September of last year. Leg-spinner Vipraj Nigam of the Delhi Capitals finished first in the tournament’s wicket-taking record with 20.
Earlier, Zeeshan Ansari also represented India in the 2016 U-19 World Cup, and played with the likes of Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan, his current SRH teammate. Zeeshan played two games in the World Cup and took two wickets.
DC vs SRH playing XIs
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aniket Verma, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins (C), Zeeshan Ansari, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Shami
Delhi Capitals: Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel (C), Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar
