Sunrisers Hyderabad’s fourth consecutive loss of the season, and their second at home, left them looking like the shadow of their 2024 selves. Gujarat Titans’ convincing seven-wicket victory placed them at the other extreme of this spectrum and was their third consecutive victory.
Washington Sundar, playing his first game of the season, proved to be a superb punt at No. 4, and SRH crashed and burned their way to a total of more than 150 on a sluggish surface where stroke-making was difficult. However, they were once again found wanting with the ball. For the third wicket, he and Shubman Gill added 90 runs.
Where the match was won
Midway through the overs. In the sixth over, Washington initiated GT’s comeback, and he and Shubman Gill then dominated the middle overs to put SRH out of the game. Pat Cummins attempted to lead his team to the two points twice during the day, first with the bat and then with the ball in the PowerPlay. However, this GT duo defeated him in the middle phase.
The middle-overs difference
| Parameters | SRH | GT |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60/2 | 82/1 |
| Run-rate | 6.67 | 9.11 |
| 4s/6s | 5/1 | 12/0 |
Sunrisers Hyderabad
PowerPlay: Travishek leaves early once more
Phase score – 45/2 [RR: 7.50, 4s/6s: 8/0]
At home, sunrisers found a drier surface that made it difficult to hit through the line. The hosts had to learn this lesson the hard way after losing Abhishek Sharma to Siraj once more in the fifth over and Travis Head to Siraj in the first over. Before Siraj cut the opener’s wings, Abhishek was able to hit a couple of boundaries off of an inept Ishant Sharma in between the two dismissals. By the end of the PowerPlay, Ishan Kishan and Nitish Reddy had reduced the team’s score to 45/2, which was the second-lowest since 2024.
Middle-overs: Klaasen and Nitish try a gradual recovery
Phase score – 60/2 [RR: 6.67, 4s/6s: 5/1]
The rut continued during this stage as well. In the ninth over, Kishan shot to backward square leg after failing to get on top of a short ball from Prasidh Krishna, falling for 17. The first four of the SRH innings came in the eleventh over when Nitish executed a calculated reverse sweep and hit a Rashid Khan delivery to the third man fence. Nitish and Klaasen targeted Rashid, who has had a mediocre start to the season, while Sai Kishore kept it close from the opposite end. Rashid finished with stats of 0/31 in four overs, while Klaasen smashed the first six of the innings in the thirteenth over. Sai Kishore pulled one back from the other end by cleaning up the South African with an arm ball just when he was starting to get going.
Death overs: SRH surpasses 150 thanks to a Cummins appearance
Phase score – 47/4 [RR: 9.40, 4s/6s: 6/1]
After dismissing Nitish and completing with outstanding numbers of 2 for 24, Sai Kishore persisted in torturing the home team. After trapping Aniket Verma’s leg before attempting to deny SRH a late flourish, Siraj returned and used some reverse swing to floor Simarjeet Singh’s leg stump, finishing with figures of 4-17, which included 17 dot balls. Ishant’s 17-run 20th over and Pat Cummins’ cameo of 22 off 9 gave the SRH bowlers a total of 152/8 to work with on a pitch that was obviously difficult to bat.
Gujarat Titans
PowerPlay: Washington Sundar turns around a poor beginning
Phase score – 48/2 [RR: 8.00. 4s/6s: 5/2]
In the final over of this round, Simarjeet Singh ruined a strong start by hitting Mohammed Shami and Pat Cummins with two fours and as many sixes in a 20-run over as Washington went after his short lengths. Prior to that, Cummins got the ball moving and had Jos Buttler caught behind for a third ball duck, and Shami dismissed Sai Sudharsan for just five. Washington immediately delivered when GT moved him up to No. 4.
Middle-overs: Washington and Gill outbid the asking price
Phase score – 82/1 [RR: 9.11, 4s/6s: 12/0]
The third-wicket duo kept up the late PowerPlay momentum, preventing SRH from regaining any ground in the match. As Gill and Washington easily constructed their stand that took the contest away from the hosts, Cummins’ bowling choices were unable to have the same impact as he had early on. The ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis was dismissed for 12 in an over, while leg spinner Zeeshan Ansari bowled three overs of his leg spin for 22 runs but was unable to make an impact. In the eleventh over, Cummins returned in a last-ditch effort to take a wicket, but Gill hit him for what may have been the game-winning cover drive. Aniket made a diving grab at deep point that was extremely close to the ground, but the third umpire’s controversial ruling ended Washington’s fantastic knock. After running out of bowling options, Cummins resorted to the left-arm spin of Abhishek Sharma. At the end, GT had just 23 runs to reach when he bowled to Sherfane Rutherford, a left-hander who smashed him for four fours in the over.
Death-overs: Rutherford and Gill seal a significant victory
Phase score – 23/0 [RR: 13.80, 4s/6s: 3/1]
Ansari reappeared when SRH got a change of ball for the death, but Gill struck him for two fours on both sides of the ground—a sweep behind square leg and an inside-out hit over extra cover. Before Gill hit the winning run, Rutherford followed up a Cummins one with a four and sent it out of the ground.
Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 152/8 (Nitish Reddy 31, Heinrich Klaasen 27, Pat Cummins 22*; Mohammed Siraj 4-17, R Sai Kishore 2-24) lost to Gujarat Titans 153/3 in 16.4 overs (Shubman Gill 61, Washington Sundar 49; Mohammed Shami 2-28) by 7 wickets
