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Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has criticized Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for their disappointing batting display against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL 2026 Eliminator in New Chandigarh on Wednesday, May 27.
Ashwin was disappointed with the way Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen kept throwing away their wickets while chasing a mammoth target of 244 runs against Rajasthan Royals. The former Indian all-rounder even suggested that the SRH team management now has to seriously think about the future of Travis Head after his average performances this season. Head scored 410 runs at a strike rate of 170.
Sunrisers Hyderabad did not get a place in IPL 2026 Qualifier 2 due to the mistakes of Ishan Kishan and Travis Head
Sunrisers Hyderabad started the tough chase of 244 in really aggressive style but they lost the momentum when Jofra Archer and Nandre Berger started destroying the top order with fast bowling. Archer dismissed Abhishek Sharma for zero in the very first over.
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And then, Ishan Kishan, who scored 33 runs off just 11 balls, lost his wicket while playing an unnecessarily aggressive shot. Smaran Ravichandran also failed to make an impact, while Travis Head once again disappointed in the big match.
The Australian opener tried to attack Archer by going outside the leg stump, but completely missed the fast ball and was bowled after scoring 17 runs. That wicket became one of the biggest turning points of the IPL 2026 Eliminator in New Chandigarh.
SRH slipped to 57/4 in the powerplay, and that collapse didn’t help them at all as they were eventually bowled out for 196 in 19.2 overs and Rajasthan Royals advanced to IPL 2026 Qualifier 2 against Gujarat Titans.
Ravichandran Ashwin criticizes Sunrisers Hyderabad for careless batting after eliminator crisis
After SRH’s crushing defeat, Ravichandran Ashwin said that Pat Cummins’ team lost the match due to poor game awareness and careless batting in such a high-pressure knockout encounter. He felt that the team was actually in a strong position at the start of the chase, but the batsmen made things difficult for themselves by playing careless shots against the strong RR attack.
Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube channel ‘Aish Ki Baat’, “I think SRH could have won this match quite easily. When they had scored around 32-34 runs in the first two overs and around 50 runs in the first three overs, Ishan Kishan’s shot was completely unnecessary.”
The former spinner criticized the way Ishan and Head lost their wickets. He believes that he should have handled the pressure better instead of gifting away his wickets.
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Ashwin further said, “Ishan threw away his wicket. There was no point in playing such a shot in such a big match. It was a very poor shot. Travis Head has not performed at all this season. The management definitely needs to think about Travis Head. He should have played more responsibly. There was no point in getting out after playing such a bad shot.”
Ashwin says SRH missed chance to win against RR due to poor game awareness
The cricket pundit also said that when Nitish Kumar Reddy was batting aggressively in the middle overs against Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator, SRH were alive in the game.
Nitish played a fighting inning of 38 runs, while Salil Arora added 35 runs, but he did not get any support from the other end, resulting in a crushing defeat for the team against RR.
Ashwin said, “SRH was in the match till the 14th over when Nitish Kumar Reddy was batting. But if you keep losing so many wickets, you can never chase such a big target. If SRH had shown a little more awareness and played with a cool head, they could have won this match comfortably. To be honest, it was a very poor batting performance from the SRH team.”
