IPL 2025: Cummins blames fielding and batting as SRH crash to 80-run defeat

His words summed up SRH’s night—sloppy in the field, wayward with the ball at the death, and completely outclassed with the bat. KKR, playing their first home game of the season, were eager to put on a show at Eden Gardens.

Despite early setbacks that saw Quinton de Kock (1) and Sunil Narine (7) dismissed cheaply, a composed partnership between Ajinkya Rahane (38 off 27) and young Angkrish Raghuvanshi (50 off 32) set the platform. But it was in the latter half of the innings that KKR truly shifted gears.

"Not a great night tonight. In the mid-innings break, we thought it was gettable. It was a pretty good wicket. Gave away a few too many in the field and obviously fell short (with the bat). You have to be realistic - three games in a row, it has not come off for us," Cummins said after the match.

Venkatesh Iyer (60 off 29) played a game-changing knock, finding an able finisher in Rinku Singh (32 not out off 17). The duo smashed 78 runs in the final five overs, propelling KKR to 200/6—the highest total of the season so far.

But as the game unfolded, SRH’s seamers struggled to execute at the death, conceding crucial boundaries. The chase, however, unraveled within minutes. Vaibhav Arora removed Travis Head for just four runs on the second ball of the innings.

Harshit Rana followed up with a deceptive slower ball to dismiss Abhishek Sharma. By the time Arora struck again to send Heinrich Klaasen back, SRH were reeling at 9/3 inside three overs. "Less than two weeks ago, we put on 280. Our batters are at our best taking it on, but you have to think about whether iwhetheryou could take different options," Cummins added.

Varun Chakravarthy (3-22) made matters worse in the middle overs, dismantling any hopes of a recovery by removing Cummins himself. Andre Russell (2-20) then cleaned up the tail as SRH collapsed for just 120 in 17 overs. Adding to KKR’s triumph was a milestone moment for Sunil Narine, who claimed his 200th wicket for the franchise, further solidifying his legendary status.

But for Cummins, the biggest disappointment was their sloppy work in the field. "Probably more (disappointed) with our fielding - a couple of catches, and a few misfields that we have to tidy up. Overall bowling was not bad, they batted well towards the end. We only bowled three overs of spin - did not think there was a lot of spin. Cutters were gripping (for the pacers), so they went down that path," Cummins concluded.