The top two teams in the IPL 2026 standings are Gujarat Titans (GT) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), with just two points separating them from the sixth-place squad. With 16 points, the winner of the match between GT and SRH in Ahmedabad would move up to the top of the standings. The stakes are extremely high, considering this will be GT and SRH's first meeting of the season.
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| Prasidh Krishna took a wicket for GT |
Conditions
Two teams are eliminated with 15 IPL 2026 matches remaining. However, eight clubs remain in the running for a postseason berth, and no one has yet secured a position. The qualification scenarios for each of those eight teams are shown here.
In the second half, Malinga scores
Hi, hi. Before we begin, the toss and team sheets will be sent in 30 minutes. I would be remiss if I did not point you in the direction of an incredible feature by Andrew Fidel Fernando. In a story, he detailed Eshan Malinga's journey from soft-ball cricket to the Sri Lanka team, his ups and downs due to injuries, and his eventual rise to prominence in the IPL.
If you need additional proof, consider this excerpt
Eshan Malinga continues to overcome obstacles that life throws in his path. Take hell out of his February. Malinga has been preparing for his first World Cup for a number of months, which is a dream for almost everyone who ever picks up a cricket ball. However, Malinga dislocated his non-bowling shoulder when bowling a week before the World Cup. The team's medical staff has since described this as an unusual ailment they had never witnessed.
Nevertheless, in the middle of May, he is smiling from atop a stack of 16 IPL wickets, having established a solid reputation as a reverse-swing operator. In this hectic IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad's explosive hitters may have taken the stage, but no SRH bowler has come close to Malinga's fifth-highest wicket total of the season. Malinga has held down the fort in a year when Pat Cummins has missed seven of their eleven games, especially in the second half of the innings.
In Ahmedabad, SRH bowls first and introduces Hinge
Sunrisers Hyderabad choose to bowl against the Gujarat Titans.
Pat Cummins, the skipper of Sunrisers Hyderabad, won the toss and defied expectations by choosing to bowl first in Ahmedabad. The team batting first has won six of the last eight games played on pitch number five, including the T20 World Cup. One change was made by SRH, who had won six of their last seven games. Harsh Dubey was replaced by Praful Hinge. However, following their 77-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur, the Gujarat Titans, who have won their last four games, chose to stay with their tried-and-true batting-first eleven.
Shubman Gill stated it "looks like a better wicket than we have had in the past couple of matches, on this particular wicket." Additionally, GT has a home advantage because they have prevailed in all three of these teams' meetings in Ahmedabad since 2023.
If the winning team wins tonight, it will be more easier for them to qualify because, after eleven games, both teams have 14 points. A win will propel them to the top of the standings and, barring a series of unfavourable outcomes, essentially guarantee their postseason berth.
Gujarat Titans batting-first XI: Shubman Gill (capt), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Nishant Sindhu, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj
GT bench: Prasidh Krishna, Sai Kishore, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Glenn Phillips
Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling-first XI: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, R Smaran, Salil Arora, Pat Cummins (capt), Shivang Kumar, Praful Hinge, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain
SRH bench: Travis Head, Liam Livingstone, Aniket Verma, Harshal Patel, Harsh Dubey
First round: Pat vs GT opening
This matchup between Pat Cummins and the GT openers is delicious. In order to attack B Sai Sudharsan's stumps, he starts by rifling it on a nice length. He always shifts it slightly away from Sudharsan. Cummins then shifts it into Gill's pads, but it bounces at a strange angle.
Currently, these two prefer that the bowlers approach them early in the powerplay with their attacking or even wayward lines. Here, Cummins offers them none of that. There was some tension built up from this end, but nothing for the highlights footage here. After one over, GT is 5 for 0.
Offering early dew?
4 0 1 0 4 1
The bowling coach for SRH, Muralidaran, strolls over to the ropes and presses his palms into the grass. It's quite early to see if there will be any dew tonight! Apparently, not yet. but may be worth keeping an eye out for.
There was considerable early drama on the field. Sai Sudharsan drives Nitish Kumar Reddy down to long-off after he deviates from his lines by going too full and straight outside off. Gill then uses another one of his smooth cuts through covers to pounce on excessive width. He misses a difficult caught-and-bowled opportunity in the middle of a Gill drive that is hammered directly at him.
After two overs, GT 15 for 0, breathing slightly easier.
Among the wickets, hinge back
Gill hit Klaasen in the middle of the wicket with this one!
It's worth analysing that shot: at 138 kph, the ball was thrown full and outside off. Early assessment of a T20 surface's pace and bounce has been Gill's speciality. However, he misinterprets this delivery since it is not precisely in the zone where he can swipe across the line. His smooth on-drive is hit directly to Klaasen, who is positioned within the 30-yard circle, since it cannot go under the bounce.
GT 15 for 1 in the beginning.
Cummins is difficult to avoid with a new ball
Time in, time out, Cummins can knock it in fullish and yet make it come back at the batter because of his high point of release. You can see him teasing that length close to the stumps, but it's nothing ostentatious. Knowing that Cummins has too much bounce to swing across the line off him, Sudharsan has done well to simply play him out. Driving him is also mysterious because of a small amount of movement: will you be able to outmanoeuvre him?
When he comes on to bowl the fifth over, Nitish Kumar Reddy doesn't quite have that high release point up his sleeve. When he searches the slot machine for swing, he is penalised. However, he maintains his pace in the mid-130s while pulling back the lengths for the remainder of this over. Sudharsan swishes at air after being forced into a scoop to complete the over on a high.
Thus, after five overs, GT is 26 for 1. At the toss, Gill said that the pitch appeared better than it had. In contrast, their score is progressing slowly.
Hinge hits once more
After going four for his debut, Hinge wasn't having the best of things. He was getting set up on flatter pitches with little pace to go along with his lines. As a result, he was left out of SRH's playing twelve.
However, Hinge has displayed his goods on this tune. On this pitch, he continues to stick it up at the ideal length. Buttler shapes into a scoop over deep third because he can't decide where to hit him down the pitch. However, the delivery slightly shifts away, and the keeper is tickled.
Hinge is suddenly 2 for 2 and GT 26 for 2.
GT batters have a tight lid
The Gujarat Titans scored 34 runs during the power play. This season, they are at their lowest point.
Nishant Sindhu holds up his hand
0 1 W 4 0 0
Nishant Sindhu, 22, is skilled at maintaining his figure. This season, he has played two games for GT, scoring 0 and 15. He quickly reached 20 off 9 by the seventh over today. GT is 47 for two.
His accuracy with his shots—holding his shape, deep in his crease, and allowing the ball to approach him for that extra microsecond—has been particularly noteworthy. Above all, the deliveries have been made. He has done a good job of assessing them and has only pursued low-risk shots that he can store more conventionally.
After the powerplay, we'll see what tempo he plays at.
Cummins removes Sindhu
0 1 W 4 0 0
Pat Cummins knows when to apply a strangle, if nothing else.
Even though it is only the tenth of the innings, he is on for his third over. He is aware that Sudharsan and Sindhu are eager to start. By 2026 IPL standards, this pitch has been extremely slow, so all Cummins does is keep spearing it in full and then getting it to rear slightly off the pitch. Sindhu attempts a loft, but he is unable to get it over the sweeper cover. The delivery was never truly there to be struck, and it stalled in the surface once more.
Get spinning again
After 52 consecutive overs of pace, Shivang Kumar's 12th over was the first by a spinner since Allah Ghazanfar's 18th over in Raipur (MI vs. RCB on Sunday night), according to Sampath Bandarupalli. Fast bowlers dismissed all 39 overs of the PBKS-DC match in Dharamsala last night, marking the first time this has happened in the IPL since 2016.
Sudharsan mentions 50
This GT innings, he has remained composed.
This season, it's his sixth fifty. Throughout the middle overs, he has combined reliability with nearly risk-free batting. This has been emphasised today, since it has been difficult to get big shots across the line on the pitch. He belts it down to fine leg in the slot after Shivang Kumar makes a weak delivery.
After 14 overs, the Gujarat Titans are 107 for 3 going into the second strategic timeout. Here, a significant death overs push is required. Additionally, since new batsmen haven't performed well on this pitch, Sudharsan must take the lead.
Starring on a hinge in the field
Today, Hinge is everywhere: he devours a poorly timed scoop off Sai Sudharsan at the backwards point.
Earlier in the day, he made an outstanding outfield save by jumping over the ropes with the ball caught and tossing it back in. He can hardly move now. GT hasn't had much success tonight with the scoops, which are a ruse to score some scoring off the longer lengths.
Earlier in the innings, Buttler edged the keeper. Sudharsan now tumbles off the lower edge. He couldn't fit under the ball because it was too full. Sudharsan would have loved to have survived further into these last overs, but he walks back for a 44-ball 61.
With three overs remaining in this innings, GT is 133 for 4.
Sundar 50 raises GT to 168
You are a batter, Washington Sundar.
When given width, he has whipped a couple pulls. Even though the deliveries are rising past him, he has controlled the bounce by rotating his wrists on top of them. and moved them out to the ropes in front of him with tremendous force. However, his best shots of the innings come back-to-back in the 19th over against Eshan Malings, when he falls to the ground twice and sends them behind him.
He first scoops a yorker down over short fine while shuffling across the pitch and falling to the ground. He then launches a full toss by dropping to the ground once more and rolling his wrists over his deep square leg. The work is done when he falls on the penultimate ball of the inning.
GT finished on 168 for 5 as he hit a 50 from 33 balls. It's unclear if it's sufficient.
Travis Head is removed in the first over by Siraj
0 0 0 W 0 0
When Mo Siraj swings one into Travis Head's pads, he top-edges the ball. This simply demonstrates the need to pounce with the new ball on this pitch, moving subtly enough for bowlers to be on top of the hitters. This time.
To begin the over, he swings one away, then another, then one back in. Finally, he wanders into the pads, causing Head's mouth to moisten. However, Nishant Sindhu pounces at a deep backwards point. Siraj is spreading his arms, and for good reason. He's outwitted Travis Head, who screamed in pain.
This season's IPL hasn't been the best for him. After the first over, the wicket maiden kept GT to 0 for 1. After the first over, the wicket maiden kept GT at 0 for 1.
Abhishek 0, Rabada 1
6 0 0 W 1 6
I don't know what is T20 cricket if this isn't.
Abhishek Sharma hits a pitch-perfect lofted drive over long-off with the first ball of the over. Rabada gets a six. Ishan Kishan delivers the over's final six by flicking a full ball over deep square leg.
Kagiso Rabada chases Abhishek as he runs into the leg side in between these two shots. He can only hack it back onto his stumps because he has limited space off the back of a long delivery. When he plays into his step-down, leg-side trigger movement, he can't resist taking a chance with his arm.
Despite giving up those two sixes, Rabada wins that over, and again, he and Siraj are leading GT in a powerplay. After two overs, SRH is 13 for 2. Again, he and Siraj are leading GT in a powerplay. After two overs, SRH is 13 for 2.
The powerplay is dominated by Siraj and Rabada
5 Two bowlers have bowled through the powerplay five consecutive games for the first time in IPL history.
In the last over of the powerplay, Mo Siraj blasted one off Kagiso Rabada's bowling. The cinema these two have unleashed in these first six won't be diminished by it.
In any event, Ravichandran Smaran booped one to Shubman Gill in covers a few deliveries later. In the fourth over, Rabada also removed Ishan Kishan with a hard-length delivery that slanted away from the left-hander.
The SRH batting lineup, which hasn't been as stoic as Washington Sundar or B Sai Sudharsan to sustain the chase, has been completely destroyed by these two. At the end of the powerplay, SRH limps to 34 for 4. How do you even match these lengths and the movement when you know you have to score above 8 RPO?
SRH loses half of its team
1 1 0 W 0 0
Pat Cummins, Mo Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, and now Prasidh Krishna are all quite tall.
For bowlers with a release point as high as Prasidh's, going for that hard length in the tenth over has proven to be a surefire jackpot. Indeed, the ball jags off the surface just enough to catch Salil Arora's edge and travel to the custodian.
Now, SRH has lost half of its team. After ten overs, SRH are 56 for 5, and indeed, things don't seem good for them. Now in the centre are Klaasen and Reddy, their last acknowledged duo.
Holder removes the lower order of SRH
During these middle overs, Prasidh Krishna and Jason Holder had run wild.
By curling his fingers over these deliveries, Holder in particular is bringing out his slower ones. He completed his four overs with figures of 3 for 20. He has been a huge asset to this GT team, significantly altering their twelve-person balance.
For the record, after 13 overs, SRH are 72 for 8. To mow down from here, they would need an early Christmas miracle or two, since they need 97 off 42.
By 82 runs, GT wins
Really, the GT bowlers' dominance on a pitch fit for a Test match.
Here's a sneak glimpse at the report you will shortly receive:
Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada might have been dressed in their Test whites. After bowling three overs apiece during the powerplay, Sunrisers Hyderabad were reduced to 34 for 4. From the first innings, when the Gujarat Titans batting lineup was reduced to 34 for 2, they had somehow outperformed them. B Sai Sudharsan (61 off 44) and Washington Sundar (50 off 33) managed to build a comeback for GT with wickets in hand, but SRH was defeated by 82 runs after a chase of 168 eluded them.
The Ahmedabad pitch appeared to be "a better wicket than we have had in the past couple of matches," according to GT skipper Shubman Gill at the toss. In the third over, he was dismissed due to a rare misplaced swipe across the line. He had miscalculated a pitch that proved to be one of the most dangerous in this IPL: the new ball jagged both ways, deliveries became trapped in the surface, and it was difficult to identify scoring opportunities close to the wicket.
The last six wickets were taken throughout the SRH chase by an unending barrage of tall GT fast bowlers, who were completed by Jason Holder and Prasidh Krishna in the middle overs. By the end of it, GT had surpassed 16 points and taken the lead in the standings.
Cummins is difficult to avoid with a new ball
Time in, time out, Cummins can knock it in fullish and yet make it come back at the batter because of his high point of release. You can see him teasing that length close to the stumps, but it's nothing ostentatious. Knowing that Cummins has too much bounce to swing across the line off him, Sudharsan has done well to simply play him out. Driving him is also mysterious because of a small amount of movement: will you be able to outmanoeuvre him?
When he comes on to bowl the fifth over, Nitish Kumar Reddy doesn't quite have that high release point up his sleeve. When he searches the slot machine for swing, he is penalised. However, he maintains his pace in the mid-130s while pulling back the lengths for the remainder of this over. Sudharsan swishes at air after being forced into a scoop to complete the over on a high.
Thus, after five overs, GT is 26 for 1. At the toss, Gill said that the pitch appeared better than it had. In contrast, their score is progressing slowly.
Hinge hits once more
After going four for his debut, Hinge wasn't having the best of things. He was getting set up on flatter pitches with little pace to go along with his lines. As a result, he was left out of SRH's playing twelve.
However, Hinge has displayed his goods on this tune. On this pitch, he continues to stick it up at the ideal length. Buttler shapes into a scoop over deep third because he can't decide where to hit him down the pitch. However, the delivery slightly shifts away, and the keeper is tickled.
Hinge is suddenly 2 for 2 and GT 26 for 2.
GT batters have a tight lid
The Gujarat Titans scored 34 runs during the power play. This season, they are at their lowest point.
Nishant Sindhu holds up his hand
0 1 W 4 0 0
Nishant Sindhu, 22, is skilled at maintaining his figure. This season, he has played two games for GT, scoring 0 and 15. He quickly reached 20 off 9 by the seventh over today. GT is 47 for two.
His accuracy with his shots—holding his shape, deep in his crease, and allowing the ball to approach him for that extra microsecond—has been particularly noteworthy. Above all, the deliveries have been made. He has done a good job of assessing them and has only pursued low-risk shots that he can store more conventionally.
After the powerplay, we'll see what tempo he plays at.
Cummins removes Sindhu
0 1 W 4 0 0
Pat Cummins knows when to apply a strangle, if nothing else.
Even though it is only the tenth of the innings, he is on for his third over. He is aware that Sudharsan and Sindhu are eager to start. By 2026 IPL standards, this pitch has been extremely slow, so all Cummins does is keep spearing it in full and then getting it to rear slightly off the pitch. Sindhu attempts a loft, but he is unable to get it over the sweeper cover. The delivery was never truly there to be struck, and it stalled in the surface once more.
Get spinning again
After 52 consecutive overs of pace, Shivang Kumar's 12th over was the first by a spinner since Allah Ghazanfar's 18th over in Raipur (MI vs. RCB on Sunday night), according to Sampath Bandarupalli. Fast bowlers dismissed all 39 overs of the PBKS-DC match in Dharamsala last night, marking the first time this has happened in the IPL since 2016.
Sudharsan mentions 50
This GT innings, he has remained composed.
This season, it's his sixth fifty. Throughout the middle overs, he has combined reliability with nearly risk-free batting. This has been emphasised today, since it has been difficult to get big shots across the line on the pitch. He belts it down to fine leg in the slot after Shivang Kumar makes a weak delivery.
After 14 overs, the Gujarat Titans are 107 for 3 going into the second strategic timeout. Here, a significant death overs push is required. Additionally, since new batsmen haven't performed well on this pitch, Sudharsan must take the lead.
Starring on a hinge in the field
Today, Hinge is everywhere: he devours a poorly timed scoop off Sai Sudharsan at the backwards point.
Earlier in the day, he made an outstanding outfield save by jumping over the ropes with the ball caught and tossing it back in. He can hardly move now. GT hasn't had much success tonight with the scoops, which are a ruse to score some scoring off the longer lengths.
Earlier in the innings, Buttler edged the keeper. Sudharsan now tumbles off the lower edge. He couldn't fit under the ball because it was too full. Sudharsan would have loved to have survived further into these last overs, but he walks back for a 44-ball 61.
With three overs remaining in this innings, GT is 133 for 4.
Sundar 50 raises GT to 168
You are a batter, Washington Sundar.
When given width, he has whipped a couple pulls. Even though the deliveries are rising past him, he has controlled the bounce by rotating his wrists on top of them. and moved them out to the ropes in front of him with tremendous force. However, his best shots of the innings come back-to-back in the 19th over against Eshan Malings, when he falls to the ground twice and sends them behind him.
He first scoops a yorker down over short fine while shuffling across the pitch and falling to the ground. He then launches a full toss by dropping to the ground once more and rolling his wrists over his deep square leg. The work is done when he falls on the penultimate ball of the inning.
GT finished on 168 for 5 as he hit a 50 from 33 balls. It's unclear if it's sufficient.
Travis Head is removed in the first over by Siraj
0 0 0 W 0 0
When Mo Siraj swings one into Travis Head's pads, he top-edges the ball. This simply demonstrates the need to pounce with the new ball on this pitch, moving subtly enough for bowlers to be on top of the hitters. This time.
To begin the over, he swings one away, then another, then one back in. Finally, he wanders into the pads, causing Head's mouth to moisten. However, Nishant Sindhu pounces at a deep backwards point. Siraj is spreading his arms, and for good reason. He's outwitted Travis Head, who screamed in pain.
This season's IPL hasn't been the best for him. After the first over, the wicket maiden kept GT to 0 for 1. After the first over, the wicket maiden kept GT at 0 for 1.
Abhishek 0, Rabada 1
6 0 0 W 1 6
I don't know what is T20 cricket if this isn't.
Abhishek Sharma hits a pitch-perfect lofted drive over long-off with the first ball of the over. Rabada gets a six. Ishan Kishan delivers the over's final six by flicking a full ball over deep square leg.
Kagiso Rabada chases Abhishek as he runs into the leg side in between these two shots. He can only hack it back onto his stumps because he has limited space off the back of a long delivery. When he plays into his step-down, leg-side trigger movement, he can't resist taking a chance with his arm.
Despite giving up those two sixes, Rabada wins that over, and again, he and Siraj are leading GT in a powerplay. After two overs, SRH is 13 for 2. Again, he and Siraj are leading GT in a powerplay. After two overs, SRH is 13 for 2.
The powerplay is dominated by Siraj and Rabada
5 Two bowlers have bowled through the powerplay five consecutive games for the first time in IPL history.
In the last over of the powerplay, Mo Siraj blasted one off Kagiso Rabada's bowling. The cinema these two have unleashed in these first six won't be diminished by it.
In any event, Ravichandran Smaran booped one to Shubman Gill in covers a few deliveries later. In the fourth over, Rabada also removed Ishan Kishan with a hard-length delivery that slanted away from the left-hander.
The SRH batting lineup, which hasn't been as stoic as Washington Sundar or B Sai Sudharsan to sustain the chase, has been completely destroyed by these two. At the end of the powerplay, SRH limps to 34 for 4. How do you even match these lengths and the movement when you know you have to score above 8 RPO?
SRH loses half of its team
1 1 0 W 0 0
Pat Cummins, Mo Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, and now Prasidh Krishna are all quite tall.
For bowlers with a release point as high as Prasidh's, going for that hard length in the tenth over has proven to be a surefire jackpot. Indeed, the ball jags off the surface just enough to catch Salil Arora's edge and travel to the custodian.
Now, SRH has lost half of its team. After ten overs, SRH are 56 for 5, and indeed, things don't seem good for them. Now in the centre are Klaasen and Reddy, their last acknowledged duo.
Holder removes the lower order of SRH
During these middle overs, Prasidh Krishna and Jason Holder had run wild.
By curling his fingers over these deliveries, Holder in particular is bringing out his slower ones. He completed his four overs with figures of 3 for 20. He has been a huge asset to this GT team, significantly altering their twelve-person balance.
For the record, after 13 overs, SRH are 72 for 8. To mow down from here, they would need an early Christmas miracle or two, since they need 97 off 42.
By 82 runs, GT wins
Really, the GT bowlers' dominance on a pitch fit for a Test match.
Here's a sneak glimpse at the report you will shortly receive:
Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada might have been dressed in their Test whites. After bowling three overs apiece during the powerplay, Sunrisers Hyderabad were reduced to 34 for 4. From the first innings, when the Gujarat Titans batting lineup was reduced to 34 for 2, they had somehow outperformed them. B Sai Sudharsan (61 off 44) and Washington Sundar (50 off 33) managed to build a comeback for GT with wickets in hand, but SRH was defeated by 82 runs after a chase of 168 eluded them.
The Ahmedabad pitch appeared to be "a better wicket than we have had in the past couple of matches," according to GT skipper Shubman Gill at the toss. In the third over, he was dismissed due to a rare misplaced swipe across the line. He had miscalculated a pitch that proved to be one of the most dangerous in this IPL: the new ball jagged both ways, deliveries became trapped in the surface, and it was difficult to identify scoring opportunities close to the wicket.
The last six wickets were taken throughout the SRH chase by an unending barrage of tall GT fast bowlers, who were completed by Jason Holder and Prasidh Krishna in the middle overs. By the end of it, GT had surpassed 16 points and taken the lead in the standings.
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