Follow UsFormer India player Mohammad Kaif has questioned Pat Cummins’ captaincy skills after Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered their third consecutive defeat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
SRH started the season with a total of 286 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) but have struggled since then, both in the batting and bowling departments.
Cummins’ own form has also been terrible. The right-arm pacer from Australia has only claimed three wickets in four matches at an average of 53.33 and an economy rate of 12.30.
"The batting is not working, and so is the case with bowling. You are also losing very badly. It's very difficult to come back from here. You will expect them to come with some plans because neither is Cummins able to bowl nor is Shami picking up wickets," Kaif told Star Sports.
"They don't have spinners either. (Adam) Zampa didn't play in this match. They went with Zeeshan and he wasn't given all his overs. Mendis was given just one over. He picked up a wicket there but wasn't given any more overs. Cummins' captaincy is also looking weak to me.”
Kaif feels all teams have figured out how to bowl to SRH batters. SRH got 190/9 vs Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and 163 all out vs Delhi Capitals (DC), but those were far from challenging totals as they found out in the second innings. Against KKR, SRH put on their worst batting display yet, getting bundled out for just 120.
"In batting, 200 was a big target. I believe they are under pressure because of what they did last year. When you are under the spotlight that Hyderabad would score 300 or 250 this time, it's very difficult to repeat it under that pressure. You have done it once," he said.
"The teams were not prepared last time. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma could score even 100 runs in six overs, and they weren't ready for that. However, I am seeing the plans this time. They are bowling slower balls and short balls to Abhishek.”