Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins refused to overreact despite his side suffering a brutal batting collapse against Gujarat Titans on Tuesday, insisting that “these things happen in T20 cricket” after SRH were bowled out for just 86 in Ahmedabad. The crushing defeat handed Hyderabad an 82-run loss and exposed rare cracks in one of IPL 2026’s most explosive batting lineups.
SRH had actually done well to restrict Gujarat Titans to 168/7 on a difficult two-paced surface before their chase collapsed dramatically inside the Powerplay. Speaking at the post-match presentation, Cummins defended his batters and praised Gujarat’s bowling execution.
IPL 2026, GT vs SRH: Scorecard | Highlights
“Our batting order’s been fantastic. So I don’t think we need to read too far into today,” Cummins said.
“All four of our top four have over 400 runs. So the guys are going really well. This happens in T20 cricket.”
Cummins also admitted that Gujarat’s bowling display on the sluggish Ahmedabad pitch was close to perfect.
“Yeah, I mean, you always look at it. It looked like a pretty tough wicket once you kind of hit that back of the length and they didn’t really give us much to score,” Cummins said.
“I thought that’s as good as T20 bowling as you’re going to see from them.”
The collapse came despite SRH entering the chase as favourites after their bowlers had worked hard on a surface where 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.
But once the chase began, Gujarat’s seamers completely flipped the game.
Mohammed Siraj struck with a wicket-maiden to dismiss Travis Head before Kagiso Rabada tore through SRH’s top order with hostile seam bowling. Hyderabad slipped to 32/4 by the end of the Powerplay and never recovered from there.
Rabada finished with 3/28, while Jason Holder and Prasidh Krishna cleaned up the middle order on a surface that constantly held up and bounced awkwardly.
Ironically, Cummins himself top-scored for SRH with 19 in an innings where none of Hyderabad’s specialist batters managed to build any resistance.
HOW SRH BATTING COLLAPSED VS GT
The chase started going wrong from the very first over.
Siraj removed Travis Head with a sharp delivery before Rabada completely took control of the Powerplay through disciplined seam movement and hard lengths.
Abhishek Sharma briefly tried counterattacking with a six but was bowled soon after while attempting to create room. Ishan Kishan edged behind, while R Smaran’s dismissal left SRH crawling at 32/4 after six overs.
The pitch itself demanded patience, but Hyderabad never fully adjusted to the conditions.
Holder’s slower balls and cross-seam variations became especially difficult to line up once the surface started gripping further. Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy both fell trying to force the pace against deliveries that held slightly into the wicket.
At 60/7, the game had effectively ended.
Earlier in the evening, Gujarat themselves had struggled for rhythm before Sai Sudharsan’s patient 61 and Washington Sundar’s fluent 50 helped push them towards a competitive total.
That eventually proved far more than enough.
SRH VS GT: PLAYOFF QUALIFICATION SCENARIO
The emphatic win lifted Gujarat Titans to the top of the IPL 2026 points table with 16 points and moved them within touching distance of playoff qualification.
With two league matches remaining, both against fellow playoff contenders, GT now hold a strong advantage not only in the race for qualification but also for a possible top-two finish.
Their bowling attack also suddenly looks one of the most dangerous units in the tournament again, with Rabada, Siraj and Prasidh Krishna all finding rhythm together at the right time.
For SRH though, the defeat will sting badly.
After winning the toss and bowling superbly in favourable conditions, Hyderabad would have expected to comfortably chase 169 with the kind of batting form they have shown for most of IPL 2026.
Instead, they suffered one of the worst batting collapses of the season.
The result now leaves SRH carrying fresh pressure into their final two league matches, both of which also come against teams fighting for playoff spots.
IPL 2026 | IPL Schedule | IPL Points Table | IPL Player Stats | Purple Cap | Orange Cap | IPL Videos | Cricket News | Live Score
– Ends