Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Eshan Malinga being congratulated by his teammates during the IPL 2026 match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Hyderabad on May 22, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal
Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori heaped praise on his pace triumvirate of Eshan Malinga, Pat Cummins and Sakib Hussain for orchestrating the side’s reversal of fortunes in the season. From a mid-table struggle, SRH came within sniffing distance of finishing in the top two, but the math fell just short after its win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday (May 22, 2026).
“Our pacers have been exceptional. Additionally, contributions from Harsh Dubey, from Shivang Kumar, from Nitish Kumar Reddy, from Praful Hinge… those have allowed us to come back from losing three of our first four games to now winning eight out of the next 10,” Vettori said after SRH’s 55-run defeat of RCB.
“We anticipate our batting unit to do what they do. For the bowlers to complement them is the reason we’re here right now.”
SRH scored a mammoth 255/4, powered by sublime batting performances and some sloppiness on the field from RCB. Coach Andy Flower even mentioned that not having Tim David or Jacob Bethell hurt RCB’s patrolling efficacy by the ropes.
That extent of devastation demanded a takedown of the opponent’s primary bowlers and SRH did just that by neutralising former home favourite Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s new ball process, who conceded 51 runs in his four-over spell.
“You’ve seen our openers bat for 14 games for the last three years. They’re going to take anyone on. It doesn’t swing in Hyderabad, so that negates a big percentage of what Bhuvi does. He’s been an exceptional bowler for every team he’s been at. He’s had another fantastic year. To have any chance of winning, we had to take him on. Fortunately, today was our day.”
Published – May 23, 2026 09:55 am IST
