Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pulled off a formidable chase of 244 runs against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL 2026 match at Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday (April 29).
The win was driven by a 129-run opening stand between Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24), followed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 off 30 balls and Salil Arora’s cameo 30* off 10).
SRH reached home in 18.4 overs with six wickets left, marking their fifth consecutive victory and moved them to third place in the team standings.
After the game, SRH skipper Pat Cummins praised the "scary" opening partnership of Head and Sharma, who set the tone for the daunting chase.
“I always thought it was tough to start with, but knowing our batting lineup and obviously a very good pitch, definitely thought it was within our sights. A few things had to go right, but I thought it was chaseable.
“(That opening combo that you possess, has fear completely gone out of their lives?) Hope so. You know, you see when the pitch is good, the way they play, they've got so many different shots. So I mean, I'm glad I'm not bowling at them. They look pretty scary,” Cummins said during the post-match presentation.
He was mighty pleased with the emergence of youngsters like Arora, crediting the coaching staff for instilling a fearless attitude.
“It's super impressive. Salil (Arora) hasn't really got much of a chance this season yet, but really impressed in the preseason. They've all just got that fearless attitude. So credit to the coaching staff as well for instilling that in these young guys. I don't think they realize how good they are,” Cummins added.
Cummins acknowledged that 200+ scores are now common and that a 12-run-per-over requirement is considered chaseable, forcing bowlers to reset their expectations.
“It's different to what it was five years ago, IPL. It's, you know, 200 used to be kind of tough going to chase. Now, even 12 and over, you feel like you can chase it as a batting unit. So you just got to reset your expectations a little bit as a bowling group,” he remarked.
The captain credited Eshan Malinga as a major reason for their wins. After the MI clash, Malinga became the Purple Cap holder with 15 scalps to his name from nine matches.
“How long do we have? I think I said last game, it's these high-scoring games, there's not a lot in it for the bowlers. But you do feel like, even at the end there, if you nail one really good yorker, it can still be the difference in the match. So bowlers - and really good bowlers - you know, like Eshan (Malinga) in our team, he's a big reason why we've been winning these games as well. I think he's got the purple cap as well. You can still have a huge impact. Everything's going well at the moment, so keep hanging in there,” Cummins concluded.
