Blog - Siraj, Washington consign SRH to fourth successive loss

Gujarat Titans 153 for 3 (Gill 61*, Washington 49, Shami 2-28) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 152 for 8 (Reddy 31, Siraj 4-17, Sai Kishore 2-24) by seven wickets

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered another batting malfunction, this time on a slow, black-soil surface at home, crashing to their fourth successive defeat in IPL 2025. Having lost Travishek in the powerplay, SRH went 36 balls without a boundary and had to wait until the 13th over to clear the boundary for the first time on the day. All up, they managed only two sixes and were in danger of being bowled out, with Mohammed Siraj causing irreparable damage with his career-best IPL figures of 4 for 17.

Cummins’ cameo (22* off nine balls) and his dismissal of Jos Buttler for a duck in Gujarat Titans’ (GT) chase of 153 gave SRH some hope, but that faded away once Washington Sundar clattered 23 off nine balls in the powerplay. GT didn’t need Washington with the ball, but it was his attacking enterprise at No.4 settled their chase on a tricky pitch. Washington fell agonisingly short of a maiden IPL half-century, but his captain Shubman Gill ushered GT home with an unbeaten 61 off 43 balls.

The full report will be up on the site shortly. Thanks for tuning in here.

Cummins takes a risk and throws the left-arm spin of Abhishek at the left-handed Rutherford. The WI big-hitter pastes him for four fours in an 18-run over. GT now need just 23 off 30 balls.

Gill was on 11 off 13 balls at one point, but has shifted up the gear without taking risks to bring up his half-century off 36 balls.

Washington was poised to reach his own half-century until Aniket Sharma pulled off an incredible catch, inches from the ground. Washington gone for 49 off 29 balls. It's a close call but TV umpire Nitin Menon reckons that it's a fair catch, though.

Mendis bowls with both hands. He bowls left-arm fingerspin to the right-handed Gill and right-arm offspin to the left-handed Washington, and ends up conceding 12 runs in his first over. When he bowled a fairly blameless delivery on the stumps, Washington made it look like a bad one by manufacturing swinging room and driving him inside-out over extra-cover.

With Washington also going after spin, Gill can just sit back and anchor this chase. GT are back in control in Hyderabad.

Let's talk about Washington Sundar, the batter.

This is only the fourth time in 41 IPL innings that he's batting in the top four. He takes advantage of the last over of the powerplay, taking fast bowler Simarjeet Singh for two fours and two sixes. Washington has run away to 23 off nine balls.

Washington had originally started his career as a top-order batter in age-group cricket in Tamil Nadu before he reinvented himself as a T20 bowler.

These early boundaries remind me of Washington of 2016, when he opened the batting for Tuti Patriots, alongside Abhinav Mukund, in the TNPL and showed the intent to hit over the top in the powerplay.

Former GT fast bowler Varun Aaron says that coach Nehra rates Washington's batting very highly on TV commentary.

Buttler gone for a three-ball duck. Cummins hits a back of a length, gets it to duck back in and hit the inside edge. Indeed, this will not be a straightforward chase for GT.

Washington Sundar, who was not needed with the ball, slots in at No.4 in the chase.

Shami bounces Sudharsan out for 5 - his lowest score in the IPL. This might not be a straightforward chase for GT, especially if they lose their top three early. Their middle order has been largely untested so far. GT are 15 for 1 in the third over.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered another batting malfunction in IPL 2025, this time on a black-soil surface at home, managing 152 for 8. At one point, they went 36 balls without a boundary and had to wait until the 13th over for their first six. It was Heinrich Klaasen who hit that six, and in the final over of the innings Pat Cummins (22* off nine balls) cleared the boundary to give their attack something to defend.

Rashid Khan went wicketless for a third successive game and after four games this season, he has figures of 1 for 143 in 14 overs. Mohammed Siraj, though, was at his best, especially in the powerplay, and then came back in the end overs to york Aniket Verma, SRH's last recognised batter, and Impact Player Simarjeet Singh. Hyderabad boy Siraj came away with his career-best T20 figures of 4-0-17-0 for Gujarat Titans (GT).

Siraj had started SRH's slide when he dismissed both Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma in the powerplay. In the very first over on the day, he had Head chipping a catch to midwicket for 8 off five balls. Abhishek picked away four fours before Siraj had him caught at mid-on in his third over of the powerplay. Abhishek became Siraj's 100th victim in the IPL and sixth in the powerplay in IPL 2025. No other bowler has more wickets than Siraj in the first six overs this season.

R Sai Kishore, the left-arm fingerspinner, then stifled SRH in the middle overs with his control and variety. He cut Klaasen's innings short on 27 off 19 balls when he knocked him over with a quick fizzer. He went onto have Nitish Reddy holing out for 31 off 34 balls. GT had handed a franchise debut to Washington Sundar but they didn't even need him with the ball.

Captain Cummins then made a sparkling cameo, his unbeaten 22 off nine balls pushing SRH past 150. Cummins was the only SRH batter in the top eight to have a strike rate of over 160.

After having erred too full, Sai quickly corrects his length against Klaasen and knocks him over for 27 off 19 balls. He goes wide of the crease, from left-arm around, hits a back of a length and gets it to skid into Klaasen at 95kph. Klaasen shapes to play his trademark quasi-pull but Sai gets it to zip off the surface and hit the leg stump. Sai wheels away in celebration.

He unfurled the carrom ball against the left-handed Minz and Krunal Pandya earlier this season. Today, he's bowled a couple of skidders to Klaasen and even got him with that variation.

In his next over, Sai has Reddy holing out for 31 off 34 balls. SRH are struggling at 105 for 5 in the 16th over. GT might not even need Washington with the ball today.

"For the first time since 2024, SRH haven't hit a six in the first 10 overs of their innings," Namooh Shah notes. They have had to wait until the 13th over for their first six today. When Rashid pitches one too full, Klaasen gets underneath the length and smokes him over wide long-on for six. Rashid ends with 4-0-31-0. SRH are 89 for 3 in 13 overs.

In the next over, Klaasen pumps Sai Kishore over his head for four more.

After SRH went 36 balls without a boundary, Reddy breaks the drought with a reverse-swept four off a full-toss from Rashid. The wristspinner then spears a half-tracker outside off, Reddy latches onto another error in length and swats Rashid away between deep midwicket and wide long-on for another four. Nine runs off Rashid's third over.

We're not used to seeing such errors in length from Rashid. His former GT team-mate Varun Aaron suggests on commentary that Rashid has been reactive, rather than proactive, to the batters.

Rashid used to be unhittable, but he's looked a shadow of his former self in IPL 2025. In GT's season-opener against PBKS, he leaked 48 runs in four overs for just one wicket and in GT's second game, he bowled just two overs with Gill preferring Sai Kishore ahead of him. Against RCB, he went for 54 in his four overs - his joint second-most expensive spell in T20 cricket.

Today, he has had the cushion of easing himself in. Rashid: 2-0-10-0 so far. Klassen is in rebuild mode.

SRH slip further to 50 for 3 in the eighth over. Prasidh bangs one into the pitch and gets it to skid into Kishan's pull. Kishan's weak shot is held by Ishant at long leg. Already three down, SRH will face a stiff challenge from GT's three-man spin attack in the middle overs on a black-soil surface that will slow down as the game wears on.

Everything was going swimmingly well for GT...until Glenn Phillips pulled up. In the final over of the powerplay, Phillips, came on as a sub for Siraj, and then hurt himself while throwing the ball. He winces in pain and hobbles off the field.

He was among GT's Impact subs options, but WI finisher Sherfane Rutherford was always the frontrunner to slot in as the Impact Player in the chase later in the evening.

Phillips' (potential) injury, though, has depleted GT's overseas contingent. Kagiso Rabada has returned home for personal reasons.

Siraj's economy rate of 6.27 in the first six overs is also the best among bowlers who have bowled at least 42 balls in the powerplay. He has been phenomenal with the new ball for his new franchise.

After removing Head, with a wobble-seam delivery on leg stump, Siraj continues to keep the stumps in play, in his third over of the powerplay. Siraj lands it on a back of a length and on the stumps. The length isn't full enough for Abhishek to get under it and pump it over mid-on. Plus, this is a drier, back-soil pitch, with the ball not sliding onto the bat. Abhishek can only pop Siraj to mid-on for 18 off 16 balls. SRH are 38 for 2 in the fifth over.

Despite losing three games in a row, SRH have refused to veer away from their aggressive batting approach. They lost Head to Siraj in the very first over today, but Abhishek has picked Ishant Sharma away for back-to-back fours. In the next over, bowled by Siraj, Abhishek carts him over mid-off for four more.

Kishan has also run away to a quick start: 11 off six balls. SRH are 37 for 1 in four overs.

Y'all know what happened when Siraj went up against Head in Adelaide last December.

This is the first time that Siraj is bowling to Head in T20 cricket, and the battle lasts just five balls. After Head took him for a brace of fours, Siraj adjusts his length and line with the wobble seam. He drags it back, darts it on a leg-stump line, has Head chipping a catch to midwicket. No room for Head to free his arms. Head gone for 8 off 5 balls.

Travishek haven't passed 15 in their last four innings and 50 in their five innings in IPL 2025.

Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Shubman Gill won the toss and chose to bowl on a black-soil surface in Hyderabad. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain Pat Cummins said that they were happy to bat first and that they will not veer away from their aggressive approach with the bat, despite having suffered three losses in a row.

Harshal Patel was unavailable for this match because of an illness, according to Cummins. In his absence, SRH handed left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat his first match of the season.

GT also made one change, giving offspin-bowling allrounder Washington Sundar a franchise debut. They shored up their spin attack at the expense of left-arm seam-bowling allrounder Arshad Khan. Rashid Khan, who will be facing his former franchise SRH for the first time in Hyderabad, and R Sai Kishore will lead their spin attack.

Gujarat Titans bowl-first XI: 1 Shubman Gill (capt), 2 B Sai Sudharsan, 3 Jos Buttler (wk), 4 Rahul Tewatia,5 M Shahrukh Khan, 6 Rashid Khan, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 R Sai Kishore, 9 Mohammed Siraj, 10 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Ishant Sharma

Impact subs: Sherfane Rutherford, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Arshad Khan

Sunrisers Hyderabad bat-first XI: 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Kamindu Mendis, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Zeeshan Ansari, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Mohammed Shami

Impact subs: Abhinav Manohar, Sachin Baby, Simarjeet Singh, Rahul Chahar, Wiaan Mulder

Offspin-bowling allrounder Washington Sundar is set to make his debut for GT against his former franchise, SRH, today. With three lefties in SRH's top three, will Washington operate with the new ball for GT? He spent the entire Champions Trophy on the bench, though, and has not played a competitive game since the Ahmedabad ODI against England in February.

This pitch doesn't quite look like a belter. It's a black-soil surface, and Varun Aaron reckons that the cutters from Cummins might be effective here. He also expects Jaydev Unadkat to play for SRH.