Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins admitted that his side had a rough outing after their five-match winning run came to an end. In the IPL 2026 on Sunday, Kolkata Knight Riders defeated SRH by seven wickets, chasing down the target set by Ajinkya Rahane’s team. The loss will sting for Hyderabad, who had looked well set for a big score before the middle overs tilted sharply in KKR’s favour.
KKR kept things tight in the first innings, restricting Sunrisers Hyderabad to 165. Hyderabad began with intent, using early momentum to move quickly through the powerplay and beyond. Travis Head provided the early acceleration, smashing 61 off just 27 deliveries and helping SRH reach 105/1 by the ninth over. At the halfway point, they were 107/2, with Ishan Kishan offering steady support by contributing 42, keeping the chase of a sizeable total alive.
Despite that promising start, KKR’s bowlers engineered a decisive turnaround. Varun Chakravarthy spearheaded the comeback with a spell of 3/36 across four overs, delivering crucial breakthroughs as SRH lost wickets in clusters. Sunil Narine also made an impact with figures of 2/31 in his four overs, while Kartik Tyagi contributed 2/30. Anukul Roy, Cameron Green, and Vaibhav Arora each chipped in with a wicket as well, and the innings ultimately unraveled for Hyderabad, who were dismissed for 165.
In reply, Kolkata’s chase was steered by Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Rahane. Raghuvanshi struck 59 off 47 balls, while Rahane added 43 off 36 deliveries, and together they guided KKR to the finish line with seven wickets in hand and 10 balls remaining. The successful chase ensured Hyderabad’s earlier momentum didn’t translate into a defendable total.
After the match, Cummins reflected on what went wrong and suggested SRH fell short of what their position demanded. He described it as “not their best day,” pointing out that the team couldn’t convert a strong start into a truly imposing score. In his view, Hyderabad should have pushed the total further—towards 180 and even beyond 200—rather than ending well short.
Cummins also explained that conditions shifted during the innings, with the pitch playing a little slower as the game progressed. He felt 180 could have been a par score on that surface, but insisted that from where SRH were early on, they had opportunities to add more runs. When discussing their recent streak of five wins in a row, he noted the nature of IPL cricket—where margins are often tight—even as he highlighted that the bowling unit did a lot to keep the contest going until the end.
“Not our best day. We got off to a pretty good start. And then after that, we weren’t at our sharpest. Probably from where we were, we should have found a way to get higher, you know, up around 200 or past 180. But not to be. (On the par score) I think 180, something like that,” Cummins said.
He added: “It did dry up a little bit and slow up. But again, from where we were, I think we should have got 180 plus. (On winning five on the bounce) Much of the same, the margins are quite small here. We still showed a lot of good things. With the bowling unit, we dragged it right to the end,” underscoring both the disappointment of the batting shortfall and the effort from SRH’s bowlers.
