The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will breathe slightly easy after one of their overseas stars – Eshan Malinga was recently issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) by the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board to participate in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) season. SRH was already sweating over the fitness of their foreign stars with skipper Pat Cummins expected to miss the starting phase of IPL 2026 while Aussie all-rounder Jack Edwards have already been ruled out for the season.
Coming back to Eshan, he was recovering from a shoulder dislocation injury, suffered during the England T20I series in February which also forced him out of the T20 World Cup 2026. While Malinga injured his non-bowling arm, it was still uncomfortable to put his complete body into bowling, which rendered him unfit.
Notably, Eshan Malinga, who was acquired by SRH ahead of the IPL 2025 season for INR 1.2 crores had a promising outing which made the franchise retain him for IPL 2026 as well.
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The 25-year-old Sri Lankan speedster made his IPL debut in the previous season and was one of the few positives in SRH’s mediocre campaign, where they failed to qualify for the playoffs and finished sixth.
Eshan played in seven games, snaring four wickets but it was his tidy death bowling with an overall economy of 6.02 that made it difficult for the batters to attack him. His best came against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), where he finished with figures of 3/31.
With an exact date of Pat Cummins’ return yet unknown, SRH are without a bowling spearhead. They have one of the most vulnerable pace attacks but the return of Eshan will make some amends.
The only other available overseas pacer is Brydon Carse, who would have to shoulder the bulk of the responsibilities alongside Indian fast bowlers Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat. The rest are uncapped players.
Now with Eshan back in the ranks, the load on Carse can be reduced while it also gives SRH options to rotate and choose from.
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