Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have added England quick David Payne as Jack Edwards replacement for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) season. The news of the same was confirmed via a media release on the IPL website.
The Australian all-rounder, who was acquired for INR 3 crores at the auction last December, was recently ruled out owing to a hamstring injury. Jack Edwards had suffered the setback earlier in February while playing domestic cricket in the Sheffield Shield and won’t be fit in time for IPL 2026.
The 35-year-old left-arm fast bowler was interestingly not in the auction shortlist and did not go under the hammer. It is thus understood that SRH picked him up from the Registered Available Player Pool (RAPP) – the list of players who had registered for the auction.
While David Payne has limited international experience, having played just a solitary ODI for the Three Lions back in 2022, he packs immense experience in franchise T20 leagues and has looked in good form in the last one year.
In BBL 2025-26 earlier this year, he snared 11 wickets in six games with a tidy economy of 6.47 and best figures of 3/18. Prior to that, he plied his trade in the ILT20 2025-26 with the Desert Vipers and finished as the fourth-highest wicket-taker of the season with 17 wickets from nine games.
He is also a household name in English franchise cricket. Last year, he looked promising in both The Hundred Men and Vitality Blast 2025, picking up 10 wickets in eight games and 17 wickets in 14 games, respectively.
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The Sunrisers pace department, which was looking very bleak at one moment with the uncertainty surrounding Pat Cummins and Eshan Malinga who were nursing injuries alongside Jack Edwards getting ruled out, is finally getting revitalised.
Apart from the addition of David Payne, Pat Cummins has now arrived in India while Eshan Malinga has gotten his No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board to play in IPL 2026, giving a big boost to the SRH pace battery.
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