The diminishing aura around Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batting lineup in the Indian Premier League 2025 was brought to the fore once again, this time by Gujarat Titans in a seven-wicket drubbing at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Sunday.
HIGHLIGHTS | SRH vs GT IPL-2025 SCORECARD
Asked to bat first, SRH — once the league’s ‘unstoppable force’ — was halted at 152 by a Titans attack led by local boy Mohammed Siraj, before Shubman Gill marshalled his troops in a fairly straightforward chase.
Player of the match Siraj hit SRH where it hurt most, removing Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma in the PowerPlay, the latter handing the pacer his 100th tournament scalp. Prasidh Krishna, who has been imperiously stingy thus far this season, snuffed out Ishan Kishan in the eighth over to leave SRH in a pool of trouble.
The biggest indicator of Sunrisers’ crawl against Titans was the fact that it took the side 76 balls to bring up the first six of the innings, the first time since April 2023 that the franchise had not scored a maximum in the first 10 overs.
GT did not allow an edgy SRH to fluently find the fence. Desperate attempts from Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma and Pat Cummins could only take SRH to 152, a total well under par given its own lofty standards.
With SRH bowling arsenal in the hot seat, Cummins and Mohammad Shami started strong. The latter sent back the in-form Sai Sudarshan and the former got the explosive Jos Buttler to nick a length delivery to Klaasen.
Shubman Gill celebrates his half century against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
| Photo Credit:
KVS GIRI/The Hindu
Shubman Gill celebrates his half century against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
| Photo Credit:
KVS GIRI/The Hindu
Washington Sundar, on his Titans debut, kept the pressure on SRH by taking Simarjeet Singh to the cleaners, smashing two fours and as many sixes, including an eye-catching flick of the wrist that saw the ball sail over fine-leg.
Skipper Gill eased himself in, bringing up his half-century to push forward GT’s pursuit. A moment of magic from fielder Aniket to dismiss an on-song Washington perked up the hopes of everyone wearing orange.
Sunrisers’ joy, however, was short-lived, as Sherfane Rutherford, in Gill’s company, piloted the visitor home with 20 balls to spare.
