“Also complements Cummins with the new ball”

Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) coach Sanjay Bangar felt that Jaydev Unadkat could share the new ball with Pat Cummins for SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2026. He also felt that Aniket Verma could bat at No. 5 for the Hyderabad-based franchise.

SRH has a remaining purse of ₹25.50 crore ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. They can buy a maximum of 10 players, including two foreigners, during the mini-auction in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, December 16.

During an interaction on Featured sportsBangar was asked about the possibility of SRH having an established top five with Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy. While observing that Aniket could bat above Nitish, the former Indian all-rounder noted that Unadkat and Zeeshan Ansari could be part of the franchise’s playing combination.

“Aniket Verma is a very impressive player. So he can come in straight away and maybe bat in front of Nitish because he can take the spin, and he has been very, very fabulous in terms of his attacking strokeplay against the spin,” Bangar said.

“They won’t mind playing against someone like Jaydev Unadkat because they play on such surfaces, where the change of pace is quite effective in Hyderabad, a bigger pitch. Also complements Cummins with the new ball, with that right-left combination. If you look at the lack of spin in that particular formation, Zeeshan can give you that spin-bowling option with Abhishek,” he added.

Aniket Verma smashed 236 runs at a strike rate of 166.19 in 12 innings for SRH in IPL 2025. While Jaydev Unadkat picked up 11 wickets at an economy rate of 7.34 in seven innings, Zeeshan Ansari accounted for six dismissals while conceding an average of 9.84 runs per over in 10 innings.

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“They can spend a lot of their money to get Ravi Bishnoi” – Sanjay Bangar on SRH needing to acquire a wrist-turner in IPL 2026 auction

In the same interaction, Sanjay Bangar was asked whether SunRisers Hyderabad’s main target in the IPL 2026 auction would be a new ball spinner like Akash Deep or a wrist spinner.

“I think they will go the wrist route, and that’s where you have someone like a Ravi Bishnoi available at auction, and they have the purse. They can spend a lot of their money to get Ravi Bishnoi,” he replied.

The former Indian batting coach pointed out that Rashid Khan, a bowler similar to Ravi Bishnoi, enjoyed great success on the SRH field.

“Remember, his style of bowling was very successful on the Hyderabad ground, where Rashid was that bowler all the time who was hitting the wicket, with a flat trajectory. So SRH, for all you know, could spend a lot to acquire Ravi Bishnoi,” Bangar observed.

Ravi Bishnoi did not have a good run for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in IPL 2025. He picked up nine wickets at an economy rate of 10.83 in 11 innings and was outscored by Digvesh Rathi.