Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has voiced his worries about Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) bowling situation as they face an injury crisis just before the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) season kicks off. 

With less than a week left until the tournament begins, SRH has taken a hit to their overseas bowling lineup. Captain Pat Cummins and Eshan Malinga are both out for the start of the season, and Jack Edwards is set to miss the entire tournament. 

Even though they have a good number of Indian bowlers available, Chopra feels that their strength pales in comparison to other teams in the league. The former player-turned-analyst pointed out that if their batting lineup manages to score over 250 runs, their weakened bowling attack could just as easily give up that many runs. 

"There will be challenges because the bowling has been dealt a serious blow. Pat Cummins was already not there. So, the bowling was already slightly weak, and if Eshan Malinga is also not there, it means you will have to play Brydon Carse, or else you won't be able to play with Indian bowling," Chopra said on his YouTube channel. 

"When I see their bowling, it has Amit Kumar, Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain, Omkar Tarmale, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari, Harshal Patel, Shivam Mavi, Shivang Kumar and Harsh Dubey, but the bowling is weak. How they manage the bowling will be a challenge because if they score 250, they might concede 250. Their bowling looks like that. Unfortunately, that much might is not being seen in their bowling," he added.

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With Malinga and Cummins sidelined, SRH's only option for an overseas bowler is England’s Brydon Carse. However, the right-arm seamer hasn’t played a T20I since October 2025 and wasn’t even part of the squad for the recently finished T20 World Cup. 

A significant portion of the bowling duties will rest on the shoulders of the seasoned Indian duo, Jaydev Unadkat and Harshal Patel. Together, they took 27 wickets last season.

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, Jack Edwards