Sunrisers Hyderabad was hit by an injury of Jack Edwards signed for Rs 3 crore in IPL 2026 mini auction. Ahead of their opening match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 28, SRH have named England pacer David Payne as his replacement. Payne has been signed for Rs 1.5 crore.

Who is David Payne?

David Alan Payne is an English left-arm fast-medium bowler who made his debut for Gloucestershire in 2009. He has represented England at U-19 level in both Test matches and One Day Internationals. He was named as part of the squad for the 2010 U-19 Cricket World Cup. The 35-year-old Payne, who has played one ODI for England has the experience of 233 T20s, having taken 304 wickets. His only international appearance came in 2022 against Netherlands, sharing the new ball with David Willey and picking up one wicket.He is Gloucestershire’s leading wicket-taker in T20 cricket and was the leading wicket-taker in the 2024 T20 Blast, picking up 33 wickets in 17 innings. He has also featured for Welsh Fire in the Hundred. Payne has featured in the BBL, he was named Player of the Match in the BBL15 final (2025-26), taking 3-18 to help the Perth Scorchers secure their sixth title against the Sydney Sixers. Separately, he has played two seasons of the ILT20 for Desert Vipers.The IPL released an official media statement announcing the replacements for KKR and SRH ahead of IPL 2026.”KKR, SRH pick player replacements for TATA IPL 2026Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have picked Saurabh Dubey and David Payne respectively as player replacements for TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.Akash Deep – a right-arm pacer, who has played 10 Tests for India, scalping 28 wickets – has been ruled out of the season due to a lumbar stress injury. He will be under the care of the BCCI Medical Team at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (COE) in Bengaluru for further management of his injury. Saurabh, a left-arm pacer, will replace Akash at KKR. He will join KKR for INR 30 Lakh. Meanwhile, Payne is an injury replacement for Jack Edwards at SRH. Payne has played one ODI for England, in addition to 233 T20s, scalping 304 wickets from the same. He will join SRH for INR 1.5 Crore.” However, SRH are already set to miss Pat Cummins at the start of the tournament, with Ishan Kishan named interim captain. While, Akash Deep is currently being monitored at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

England Test captain Ben Stokes described the past three months of his career as the “hardest period” of his leadership journey, as head coach Brendon McCullum and he retained their roles in the longest format, avoiding the sack despite woeful results over the past year. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed that Stokes, McCullum and managing director Rob Key would continue in their roles, giving the trio a lifeline. However, Australian greats such as Adam Gilchrist and Mark Waugh believe the decision was not as straightforward as it appeared.

“It’s only 14 or 15 months until that Ashes return series starts, so you probably think, ‘well, it might be a bit too short a term to put a whole broom through and start a fresh approach with someone else’,” Gilchrist said on Fox Cricket, reacting to the ECB announcement.

“So maybe that’s worked in their favour, and the fact that the recently completed T20 World Cup was on, of course, and they got through and ended up having a pretty successful tournament in that regard also helped,” he added.

The legendary wicketkeeper-batter recalled comments made by England all-rounder Liam Livingstone about the lack of communication within the camp, highlighting the need to address growing issues in the squad.

“Look, they’ve got to change something,” he said. “The more we learnt about the ill-discipline that was filtering throughout that group, where it didn’t seem to allow them to play their best cricket – whether that’s an accurate assessment, that’s the observation, because we didn’t know much through the summer – but all we saw and heard about was ‘We’re all good. We’re happy. The tent is happy.’

“But already there are some little fractures appearing from other people’s comments that weren’t so comfortable, the likes of Liam Livingstone and so on. But they’ve survived. It’s up to them now whether they think they need to change the approach.”

Mark Waugh, sharing his opinion on the ECB’s decision, feels that McCullum and Stokes will have realised they need to fix the mistakes made over the past year, as another reprieve may not be forthcoming.

“It was probably a 50-50 call,” he said. “A lot of people probably thought England needed a new direction, but they have shown faith in Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes who, since taking over, initially did a pretty good job playing games and winning with a very positive attitude. But in the real tests against the top teams they have fallen short.

“But there is no doubt they have to change their ways. Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes are not stupid. They will realise the mistakes they made on the tour in Australia. They are going to have a chance to turn that around.”

Waugh is keen to see if Stokes and McCullum have learned from their mistakes.

“The basics of playing cricket and playing to win are really good, but you need more than one game plan, especially against strong teams. You are probably going to lose games you should win if you are just going to play one way,” Waugh said.

“I’m sure they will have learnt their lessons, and if they haven’t, they are going to get the same results over the next 12 months and lose more than they win. The proof is going to be in the pudding. Let’s see if they learn from their mistakes.”

Oleksandr Usyk has revealed a three-fight plan before his retirement from the sport, but Zuffa Boxing CEO Dana White has admitted that he wishes to intervene and stage a clash between the Ukrainian and one of his undefeated champions.

Usyk remains unbeaten after 24 professional contests, despite an arduous run of fights that have seen him become an undisputed champion at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, cementing himself as a modern pound-for-pound standout.

Now, the 39-year-old is approaching the end of his astonishing career, having opened up on his plans to have three more fights, beginning with Rico Verhoeven in May and then against two British opponents, before hanging up the gloves.

Yet, whilst not mentioned on Usyk’s hit-list, Dana White has thrown Jai Opetaia’s name into the mix, admitting that he would like to see how the reigning Zuffa cruiserweight champion would fare against the dominant heavyweight ruler, in a clip captured by Seconds Out.

“I want to see the best fighters in the world fight the best fighters in the world. I would like to see Jai Opetaia fight Usyk.”

At present, a fight between the pair seems unlikely, though Opetaia may indeed make a move to heavyweight sooner rather than later given he has now been officially stripped of his IBF cruiserweight belt after weeks of back and forth.

Usyk will return to action on Saturday, May 23, as he offers a controversial world title shot to Dutch kickboxing champion, Verhoeven, in a fight at the Pyramids of Giza that is sure to capture global interest.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes Brendon McCullum and Rob Key were extremely fortunate to keep their positions following the Ashes loss.

The 4-1 defeat in Australia over the winter prompted fierce criticism of England’s preparation, selection and behaviour.

The England and Wales Cricket Board promised a thorough review but has decided to keep faith with McCullum as head coach and Key as managing director, along with captain Ben Stokes.

Vaughan told the BBC’s Test Match Special: “I think they’re very, very lucky. There’s not many management groups that deliver something so poor away from home in an Ashes series and get the chance to carry on.

“They seem to me it’s like a football management team. I actually felt if one went, they all went. They’ve had some exciting times but they haven’t won enough. What England fans are looking for now is, what change (will happen)?”

Key admitted mistakes were made and promised a change of approach to selection.

“We’ve overvalued loyalty and overvalued having a settled team,” he said. “We thought what we wanted to do is make sure we have a team that is settled out there.

“But what that does is it creates an environment where there’s not enough consequence. We need to be more ruthless with our selection.”

Vaughan also expressed disappointment that McCullum will not return to his role until May ahead of a Test series against his native New Zealand starting in early June.

“I think at this stage, when you’re trying to win back the fans, trying to win back a little bit of the game, if I was Brendon McCullum I’d come a few weeks earlier, get seen around the counties,” he added.

Top seed Anahat Singh and unseeded compatriot Tanvi Khanna ensured a strong Indian presence in the women’s singles semifinals of the JSW Indian Open after winning their respective quarterfinal matches here on Friday.

However, veteran Joshna Chinappa bowed out of the competition following a 13 defeat to Egypt’s Nadien El Hammamy.

In another quarterfinal clash, second seed Hana Moataz fought hard to edge past eighth seed Yasshmita Jadishkumar of Malaysia in a five-game thriller, 32 (11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8).

In the semifinals on Saturday, Anahat will face Tanvi, while Moataz will square off against El Hammamy.

Later, India enjoyed an impressive outing in the men’s quarterfinals as well after second seed Abhay Singh and fourth seed Veer Chotrani produced dominant performances to storm into the semifinals.

In the last four stage, Singh will take on Malaysia’s Ameeshenraj Chandaran, while Chotrani is set to face another Malaysian challenger, Sanjay Jeeva.

Abhay was in excellent touch as he brushed aside Egypt’s Yassin Shohdy 3-1 (11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7).

Chotrani produced a composed performance to defeat Egypt’s Mohamed Sharaf 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-2).

Earlier, Anahat underlined her status as one of the top contenders for the title with a dominant 30 (11-2, 11-6, 11-4) victory over Malaysia’s Sehveetrraa Kumar.

The top seed raced through the opening game with ease, taking it 11-2 without much effort.

Kumar offered a stronger challenge in the second game, but Anahat’s blend of power and clever deception helped her maintain control and clinch it 11-6.

The third game followed a similar pattern as Anahat dictated the pace and cruised to an emphatic 11-4 win, sealing a comfortable passage into the last four.

Meanwhile, Tanvi produced one of the standout performances of the day by upsetting fourth seed Ainaa Amani 31.

The Indian started strongly, taking the opening game 11-6 before Amani levelled the match by winning the second 11-7.

Tanvi, however, held her nerve in the remaining games, winning 11-5 and 11-8 to book her semifinal berth.

Earlier, Joshna began confidently against El Hammamy but gradually found it difficult to counter the Egyptian’s deceptive movement and sharp cross-court shots.

After a closely contested start and a strong comeback in the second game, Joshna lost momentum as El Hammamy raised her intensity to clinch the final two games and seal the match.

The first match of the TGL Finals went the way of Los Angeles Golf Club, which battled through a back-and-forth match with Jupiter Links to win 6-5. LAGC now takes a 1-0 series lead into Tuesday night’s finale, set to feature as many as two matches (if necessary) to determine the league’s second champion.

Los Angeles winning Match 2, set for 7 p.m. ET, would give the club its first TGL title. Jupiter will need to win twice on Tuesday to claim the championship in comeback fashion.

The de facto home team will get a major boost for that match, as captain Tiger Woods announced he will be in the lineup and play for the first time all season, making his return from back surgery in October 2025 to help Jupiter try and keep its season alive. 

Monday night’s Match 1 was not exactly a dazzling display of golfing excellence, as both teams took turns making sloppy mistakes that cost them points. 

LAGC took an early 1-0 lead, but Jupiter moved back in front 2-1 after Sahith Theegala and Tommy Fleetwood missed putts to tie from inside 4 feet on back-to-back holes. Justin Rose picked them up on the 8th hole with a chip-in birdie from 35 feet after both teams missed the green to tie the match going to the final hole of triples. 

Jupiter went back up, 3-2, on the par-5 9th hole after Theegala found a waste bunker off the tee that forced a layup, and LAGC decided to decline a hammer thrown by Jupiter after reaching the greenside area in two. 

In singles, Rose continued to keep L.A. in the match, tying the affair 3-3 with a win over Max Homa on the first hole after Homa took his turn missing a short putt, lipping out a 3-footer for the tie. Tommy Fleetwood gave L.A. a 4-3 lead on the next hole after Tom Kim hit a woeful drive way off line, forcing a layup on the long par 4, Alpine. He went into rough, and L.A. threw a hammer that was declined. 

However, that lead was short-lived after Theegala missed the giant ramp on the par 3, Cenote, and went in the water. Kevin Kisner finally hit a good shot that ramped to 6 feet from the cup, and L.A. conceded after Theegala put his third into the bunker to even the match once again at 4-4. 

Jupiter reclaimed the lead on the 13th after Homa drove the green and Rose missed the latest short putt for birdie, giving Jupiter a 5-4 lead. 

After some scratchy golf, the best sequence of the match arrived on the short par 3, Cliffhanger. Kim stuffed his tee shot to 6 feet before Woods threw the hammer, forcing L.A. into a tough decision. A loss on the hole would drop the match, but if they declined, the best they could do on the last hole is force sudden death. They accepted, and Fleetwood tucked a wedge inside Kim’s tee shot to flip the pressure. 

Both players made their birdie putts, and the match shifted to the final hole with Jupiter up 5-4. L.A. threw the hammer before the tee shots, turning it into a two-point hole to give them a chance at the win if Theegala could beat Kisner on a par 5, where he had a significant length advantage. 

That played out to L.A.’s favor, especially after Kisner’s 3 wood off the tee ran through into the rough, while Theegala carried the cross bunker with driver to leave an iron in. Kisner chunked a 7 wood from the rough into the rough again, and Theegala found the green. After Theegala left his eagle putt just short, Kisner nearly chipped in for a birdie to tie the hole and win the match, but it slid by on the left side and gave L.A. the 1-0 lead going into Tuesday night. 

Both teams will hope to be better when meeting in Match 2. As Homa so astutely stated on the 12th hole, “This is an awful match,” but in the spirit of March Madness, it was close despite poor execution, and thus, made for an exciting finish. 

Kisner did produce one of the best shots of the night with his tee shot on Cenote, but he otherwise struggled. He certainly wasn’t the only culprit in Jupiter failing to close out the match, as both Kim and Homa left shots out there at the SoFi Center on Monday night. After the rough opener, Jupiter will make a major lineup adjustment for Tuesday’s action with Woods stepping into the lineup for the first time this season. 

Perhaps the biggest challenge for Jupiter is that L.A. likely won’t play as poorly as they did in the first match either, as all three of Rose, Theegala and Fleetwood had their struggles. Theegala was wild with the driver on a few occasions, and none of them were sharp with the putter, but they were still able to grind out a win and take control of the best-of-three Finals.