“I Don’t Think We Need To Read It Too Far”: Pat Cummins Remains Optimistic, Says SRH Still Has ‘Breathing Room’ For Playoff

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s push for an IPL 2026 playoff spot hit a major roadblock as Gujarat Titans dominated their clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, bowling SRH out for 86 in 14.5 overs while defending 169 and inflicting an 82-run defeat that dropped Sunrisers to third place on the points table.

Despite the size of the loss and the sharp fall from first place earlier this month, SRH captain Pat Cummins stressed that the campaign remains on track. Cummins pointed out that Sunrisers had created a cushion with six wins from their previous eight matches, including a five-game winning run that had briefly taken them to the top.

GT vs SRH: Cummins Focuses On Bigger Picture

Speaking in the post-match presentations, Cummins called the defeat "breathing room" rather than a crisis. "I think getting ahead of the count pretty early is important. I think we won five or six out of the last seven. It gives you a bit of breathing room in these last few games.

"So yeah, we've still got two games left to qualify. Again, it's about going back to what got us those wins in the first place and putting this one behind us pretty quickly," Cummins said, backing the current approach while stressing the need to reset fast before the final league fixtures.

'We Need To Look...' Cummins On Powerplay collapse & Bowling Lesson

The match in Ahmedabad quickly slipped away from the Sunrisers in the power play. While chasing 169, SRH lost four wickets for just 34 runs as Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj dismantled the top order. Jason Holder then cut through the middle order with three wickets, sealing the Gujarat Titans’ commanding win long before the final over.

Cummins praised Gujarat’s discipline with the ball and admitted Sunrisers failed to adjust to the surface. "I think they made the most of the conditions. Their bowlers bowled really well, so maybe we need to look at ways to get through spells like that, but they deserve a lot of credit," Cummins said about the Titans’ effort.

Cummins felt the pitch became difficult once Gujarat’s seamers found the ideal length. "It looked like quite a tough wicket once the bowlers hit that hard back-of-a-length area, and they didn't really give us many scoring opportunities. Perhaps during our bowling innings, we could have learnt from that and held our lengths a little longer.

"But overall, that's as good a T20 bowling performance as you're going to see," Cummins added, accepting that the Gujarat Titans out-thought and out-executed the Sunrisers with the ball in this IPL 2026 meeting while hinting that the Sunrisers must quickly refine plans for similar conditions in the remaining league matches.

Sunrisers Hyderabad still controls its own route to the IPL 2026 playoffs, with two league games left after the Gujarat Titans' defeat. SRH next face Chennai Super Kings on May 18, before finishing their league phase against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru on May 22, knowing one strong response could steady their season again.