Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins refused to overreact despite his side suffering a brutal batting collapse against Gujarat Titans on Tuesday, insisting “these things happen in T20 cricket” after SRH were bowled out for just 86 in Ahmedabad. The crushing defeat handed Hyderabad an 82-run deficit and exposed rare cracks in one of the most explosive batting line-ups of IPL 2026.
SRH actually did well to restrict Gujarat Titans to 168/7 on a difficult two-run surface before their chase collapsed dramatically in the Powerplay. Speaking at the post-match presentation, Cummins defended his batting and praised Gujarat’s bowling execution.
IPL 2026, GT vs SRH: Scorecard | Highlighting
“Our batting order has been fantastic. So I don’t think we have to read too far into today,” Cummins said.
“All four of our top four have over 400 runs. So guys are going really well. That happens in T20 cricket.”
Cummins also admitted that Gujarat’s bowling display on the slow Ahmedabad pitch was almost perfect.
“Yeah, I mean, you always look at it. It looked like a pretty tough wicket once you hit the back of the length and they didn’t really give us much to score on,” Cummins said.
“I thought it was as good a T20 bowling as you will see from them.
The collapse came despite SRH entering the chase as favorites after their bowlers worked hard on a surface where the timing never looked straightforward. Cummins himself bowled an excellent spell of 1/20 in four overs while young pacer Praful Hinge impressed with figures of 2/17 to help restrict GT.
However, once the chase started, the Gujarat seamers turned the game around completely.
Mohammed Siraj hit a wicket-maiden to dismiss Travis Head before Kagiso Rabada tore through SRH’s top order with the opposition bowling. Hyderabad slipped to 32/4 at the end of the over and never recovered.
Rabada finished with 3/28 while Jason Holder and Prasidh Krishna cleaned up the middle order on a surface that kept on holding and bouncing clumsily.
Ironically, Cummins himself top-scored for SRH with 19 in an innings where none of Hyderabad’s special order batsmen managed to put up any resistance.
HOW SRH PALTING GOT ROUGH VS GT
The chase went wrong right from the start.
Siraj removed Travis Head with a sharp delivery before Rabada took complete control of the Powerplay through disciplined seam movement and hard lengths.
Abhishek Sharma briefly tried to counter-attack with a six but was dropped soon after as he tried to create space. Ishan Kishan fell behind while R Smaran’s dismissal left SRH crawling to 32/4 after six overs.
The pitch itself required patience, but Hyderabad never fully adjusted to the conditions.
Holder’s slower balls and cross-seam variations became particularly difficult to line up once the surface started to stick. Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy fell trying to force the pace against deliveries that held slightly in the wicket.
At 60/7 the game was effectively over.
Earlier in the evening, Gujarat themselves struggled for rhythm before a patient Sai Sudharsan 61 and Washington Sundar’s fluent 50 helped push them to a competitive total.
That turned out to be more than enough in the end.
SRH VS GT: PLAYOFF QUALIFYING SCENARIO
The emphatic win took Gujarat Titans to the top of the IPL 2026 points table with 16 points and moved them within reach of qualifying for the playoffs.
With two league games remaining, both against other play-off opponents, GT now have a strong advantage not only in the race for qualification, but also in an eventual top two finish.
Their bowling attack also suddenly looks like one of the most dangerous units in the tournament again, with Rabada, Siraj and Prasidh Krishna finding a rhythm together at the right time.
However, the defeat will sting badly for SRH.
After a brilliant tossing victory and bowling under favorable conditions, Hyderabad would expect to comfortably chase down 169 with the kind of batting they have displayed for most of IPL 2026.
Instead, they suffered one of the worst batting collapses of the season.
The result now leaves SRH carrying renewed pressure into their final two league matches, both of which also come against teams fighting for playoff spots.
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Issued by:
Debodinna Chakraborty
Published on:
12 May 2026 23:59 IST
