An image has gone viral of the SunRisers Hyderabad players along with owner Kavya Maran praying to Jesus before taking the field for their IPL 2026 match against the Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on April 13, Monday. The photo shared on Facebook has triggered plenty of debate as captain Ishan Kishan and owner Kavya Maran were seen praying to Jesus beyond the boundary line. Hence, it’s worth running a fact check on the incident.
SRH vs RR, IPL 2026: Did SRH owner Kavya Maran and Ishan Kishan pray to Jesus before the game?
Kavya Maran had come under scrutiny even before the start of the IPL due to acquiring Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed’s services during The Hundred 2026 auction for SunRisers Hyderabad’s sister franchise SunRisers Leeds and it sparked backlash among fans. Therefore, the eyeballs were always going to be on Maran. The scrutiny increased further when a photo went viral of SRH owner and skipper praying to Jesus before taking the field. But it turns out that the photo was AI generated and it’s not a real one. Moreover, the photo is an old one as Pat Cummins is also seemingly present with them.
SunRisers Hyderabad stun the Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium
Meanwhile, the SunRisers registered their second win of IPL 2026 on Monday to jump to fourth spot in the IPL 2026 points table. The Orange Army had lost Abhishek Sharma in the very first ball of the match as the left-hander mistimed one to deep third man off Jofra Archer’s bowling. However, Kishan stood tall, playing a captain’s knock to lead the 2016 champions’ recovery. The southpaw clobbered 91, with Heinrich Klaasen (40), Nitish Kumar Reddy (28) and Salil Arora (24) chipping in with useful runs to the cause, lifting the home side to 216/6.
The Royals, who were yet to lose a game, would have fancied their chances of chasing down the total, given the form Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal were in. But debutants Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain bowled with some serious pace and precision to tear through the Royals’ batting order. Although Donovan Ferreira made 69, the Royals still crashed to a 59-run loss and their first of the 2026 edition.
