Sunrisers Hyderabad climbed to third in the IPL 2026 table with the massive win over Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede on Wednesday to take their season’s tally to 12 points, provisionally level with second-placed
defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru and on point behind table-toppers Punjab Kings.
Former CSK star all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin pipped SRH as the dark horses to pip PBKS, and RCB, who have been billed as favourites this year, citing their incredible bowling attack as a crucial factor in their pursuit.
“They should take a leaf out of Pat Cummins’ book. His 17th over was highlighted by a Yorker nearly every delivery, and I feel all the budding young bowlers out there need to learn from him,”
“Eshan Malinga has got the most dip and rotations on the slower ball in the entire tournament. It is a rare commodity to have and also does well with the reverse swinging deliveries,” he said.
“SRH is the dark horse of the tournament, who can stop Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru,” he said.
“SRH started the tournment with Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat, before transforming it with Praful Hinge and Shakib Hussain. They added strength to strength with Malinga and added a cherry on top with Cummins,” he recollected.
SRH started the tournament with an opening day defeat to RCB, before logging their first win of the campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders. They slipped to a shock defeat at the hands of Lucknow Super Giants, before succumbing to PBKS.
SRH bounced back to wining ways with their win over Rajasthan Royals, and strung up a series of five wins on the tort with their triumphs over Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, RR again and MI.
SRH have 6 wins and 3 defeats in their 9 outings thus far in the campaign and will look to extend their winning streak to six when they take on KKR on Sunday.
