Immediately after the game, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain Pat Cummins was quite candid about his opinion of the team’s performance during the 2025 IPL season. According to him, SRH never got going, which seemed very true when the team succumbed to a seventh defeat, this time at the hands of the Mumbai Indians (MI) by seven wickets.

Played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, SRH had a very difficult start. They were already in a big dilemma following the early losses, down to just 35 runs for the fall of five wickets after 8.3 overs. Luckily, things started to look better through Heinrich Klaasen and Abhinav Manohar. Loftily on the shoulders of their partnership, indeed the savior of the day, coming in with a 99-run stand, SRH were allotted a respectable total of 143 runs for eight wickets in the end. Klaasen’s performance was pure magic: 71 off 44 balls, with nine fours and two sixes. Along with Manohar, this was a real good innings, going for 43 runs off 37 deliveries, with a couple of fours and three sixes.

Post-match, Cummins acknowledged both Klaasen and Manohar for really getting the team into a respectable position. He went on to admit it was just a bad start for the team. He said, “It is pretty common to feel crushed after a few early ones.” Cummins simply said, “Never got going. After a couple of wickets, you have to find a way to steady the ship. Couldn’t do that.”

Moving onto the wicket, the SRH skipper maintained that while conditions were not exactly conducive for run-scoring, they did require big strokes. As for their pre-match discussions, Cummins said: “You’re allowed to bowl a good over, build your innings and you can catch up.” He reiterated that whenever teams come out to play, it is always a new game, and they have to assess the pitch.

He compared this game to others for Sunrisers and said that T20 cricket is very unpredictable. “Difference between the first game where we got 280-plus and the next, where we folded, is huge. That’s T20-you don’t know what happens,” Cummins reflected. Now, with SRH in deep trouble, he is determined to lift his gaze toward the next match. “Hasn’t worked out so far. We have a few away games now. It’s about assessing each wicket quickly,” he mentioned.

MI won the toss and opted to field first. They had SRH back in the game early, and, thanks to Klaasen and Manohar, SRH could at least mount a little resistance with their total of 143 runs. Boult was by far the chief wicket-taker for MI, getting the reward of 4 wickets for 26 runs in four overs. Deepak had a great day with 2 wickets for just 12 runs, while both Pandya and Bumrah finished with a wicket each for MI.

A superb chase by the MI team followed upon a very good 64-run partnership, between Will Jacks and Rohit Sharma, before adding a very solid 53 more runs between Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav. Rohit got his second fifty in a row with a marvellous innings of 70 runs off 46 balls, including eight fours and three sixes. Suryakumar finished the appearance undefeated with a well-played 40 runs off 19 balls while Tilak Varma stood in silence with 2 runs.

In the end, MI won the match in 15.4 overs, their fourth consecutive win, currently placing third in the points table with five wins giving them a total of 10 points. SRH is regrettably placed in ninth with just two wins and six losses, accounting for a mere four points. It is now time for SRH to make their round and find ways for their forthcoming challenges on the road.