Veteran leg-spin bowler Piyush Chawla heaped praise on Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) batting unit after they easily chased down a daunting total against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Match No. 41 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, April 29.
In chase of 244 on a batting-friendly track in Mumbai, the SRH hitters triumphed by eight balls and six wickets to spare, according to Chawla, who said that they approached the middle with a definite mindset of chasing down the total. The former MI bowler also explained how the visiting team was able to maintain the necessary run-rate throughout the second innings by scoring fast runs.
“You have to give full credit to the batters. We know that teams like Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad are capable of chasing such totals, and they showed that again. They came out with clear intent in the Powerplay and, importantly, didn’t lose a wicket,” the cricketer-cum-commentator said via JioStar.
“They even put pressure on Jasprit Bumrah early, taking nearly 30 runs off his first two overs. After that, the rest of the batters contributed well. At no stage did the required rate get out of control. In fact, it stayed below the asking rate for most of the innings. That was the real beauty of this chase,” Chawla added.
Travis Head, who bludgeoned the Mumbai attack with a blitzkrieg of 76 from a brief 30-ball stay at the crease, was the primary batsman behind the successful run chase. Four boundaries and eight soaring sixes were included in this hit. In addition to praising Head, Chawla claimed that he was lucky to have survived a near-miss in which no one made an appeal on his behalf.
“Sometimes you need a bit of luck when you’re not among the runs, and that’s exactly what happened with him. There was a faint edge that didn’t result in an appeal. Moments like these can change an innings. I’ve noticed that whenever he plays against India or against Mumbai Indians, he seems to bat with a different level of confidence,” he said.
With 12 points from nine games, SRH is presently ranked third in the standings. They have won both games since Pat Cummins took over as captain. The Hyderabad-based team’s next game is a home match against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday, May 3, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
