IPL: Siraj, Gill and Washington hand Sunrisers fourth successive defeat

By Deivarayan Muthu, April 7 (ESPN CRICINFO): 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 waited until the 13th over to see the first six of the innings and managed only one more after that. Mohammed Siraj caused irreparable damage right from the start, ending with his career-best IPL figures of 4 for 17.

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, Prasidh 2-25) by seven wickets

Pat Cummins' cameo (22* off nine balls) and then 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. Earlier in the day, GT didn't need Washington with the ball, but his attacking enterprise at No. 4 settled their chase on a slow 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, along with Sherfane Rutherford.

Travishek vs Siraj

Siraj had sparked the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to life when he gave Travis Head a send-off in Adelaide last December. Four months on, Siraj was bowling to Head for the first time in T20s, and the battle lasted just five balls. After Head scored two fours off Siraj, the fast bowler struck with his trademark wobble-seam delivery, having him chip a catch to midwicket for 8.

Abhishek Sharma hit four fours before Siraj had him miscuing a catch to mid-on in his third over of the powerplay. It was Siraj's 100th wicket in the IPL and sixth in the powerplay, the most by a bowler in that phase so far this season, with an economy rate of 6.27.

Siraj then returned in the death to york both Aniket Verma, the last recognised batter for SRH, and Simarjeet Singh, their Impact Player.

Contrasting outings for Rashid and Sai Kishore

With both Head and Abhishek gone early, Rashid Khan, who was coming into this game on the back of figures of 4-0-54-0, could afford to ease himself in. He started fairly well by giving away just 10 runs in his first two overs, but when he erred in length, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen dispatched him to the fence. Rashid finished with 4-0-31-0, going wicketless for a third successive game, and with tournament figures of 1 for 143 in 14 overs at an economy rate of 10.21

Left-arm finger spinner R Sai Kishore, on the other hand, showed remarkable control over his length and variations. He claimed the big wicket of Klaasen by knocking him over with a quick dart, which skidded off the pitch, for 27 off 19 balls. Sai Kishore also had Reddy holing out for 31 off 34 balls and finished with 4-0-24-2.

That SRH passed 150 was down to Cummins' late blows. He was the only SRH batter in the top eight to have a strike rate of over 160.

Washington at No.4

It appeared like GT had handed a franchise debut to Washington to primarily match his offspin up with SRH's left-hander-heavy top order. But with Siraj dominating the powerplay and Sai Kishore taking care of the middle overs, GT ended up not using his offspring.

Washington then walked out to bat at No. 4 after his childhood friend B Sai Sudharsan and Buttler fell cheaply in successive overs. Washington took advantage of the last over of the powerplay, smoking Simarjeet for two sixes and two fours. It provided a throwback to Washington of 2016, when he opened the batting, alongside Abhinav Mukund, in the TNPL and showed the intent to hit over the top. Just like that, Washington dumped SRH's Impact Player out of the attack.

Washington continued to attack even after that. When the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis darted one on the stumps with his right hand, Washington manufactured swinging room and laced him over extra-cover for four. Washington seemed set for a fifty until he holed out one shy of the landmark in the 14th over.

Gill, who had already crossed 50 by that point, finished the job along with Rutherford, who hit an unbeaten 35 off 16 balls.