The mood in the Sunrisers Hyderabad camp was pretty upbeat at the halfway point of its IPL 2026 clash against Gujarat Titans on Tuesday.
Led by skipper Pat Cummins, SRH’s pacers had taken advantage of pliable conditions to restrict Titans to just 168 in the first innings.
But, it didn’t take too long for the smiles to turn to frowns as the home quicks returned the favour, with interest, to bowl out SRH for just 86.
SRH head coach Daniel Vettori admitted that he assumed his team was ahead in the game after the first essay.
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“I think you reflect on the fact that we’ve done well to restrict them to 170. Obviously, those two big wickets of Shubman [Gill] and Jos [Buttler] in the PowerPlay set us up to be able to limit them,” said Vettori at the post-match press conference.
SRH’s chase never really took off as it lost four wickets in the PowerPlay for the addition of just 34 runs.
“We were under no illusions about the way that they’ve been playing and on this surface. But I think the fact that it [target] was 169, we thought we had a chance. But, as always, you have to start well, and we didn’t tonight. That’s what happens,” said Vettori.
The former New Zealand captain also sprang to the defence of his batters. “I don’t put any blame on the batting unit. They’ve been exceptional this year. Every team throughout the IPL is going to have their small blips once in a while. Ours was tonight.”
Vettori was also full of praise for Gujarat Titans, which climbed to the top of the IPL 2026 standings after its thumping win on Tuesday.
“I think they’re a formidable team, and I think they definitely have their own style, but I think they can adapt to it. I think when they need to score the 220s, the 230s, there’s absolutely no reason why they can’t.
“There’s a reason they’re at the top of the table, because they’ve been playing so well. It’s not just about these conditions, I think they can adapt to anything,” added Vettori.
Published on May 13, 2026