"Has Been A Huge Failure In Playoffs": India Star Under Fire For Poor Show In IPL 2026 Eliminator
Rajasthan Royals defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 47 runs in their IPL 2026 Eliminator clash on Wednesday.
- Abhishek Sharma was dismissed for a two-ball duck by Jofra Archer in SRH vs RR IPL 2026 Eliminator
- Krishnamachari Srikkanth has blasted Abhishek for consistently failing in IPL playoff games
- "He has been a huge failure in the playoffs. That's been SRH's problem since 2024," he said
Former India opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth has blasted Abhishek Sharma for consistently failing in Indian Premier League playoff games. Playing against Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator clash of IPL 2026, the Sunrisers Hyderabad opener was dismissed for a two-ball duck by Jofra Archer. The England pacer bowled a well-directed bouncer on the body of Abhishek, and he ended up edging it to the wicketkeeper. His dismissal saw SRH get off to a poor start in the chase of 244. The side was eventually bundled out for 196 runs.
"Abhishek Sharma has always failed in the playoffs. He has been a huge failure in the playoffs. That's been SRH's problem since 2024. Archer finished SRH in the powerplay despite Ishan Kishan's blinder," said Srikkanth in a video on his YouTube channel as quoted by Sportskeeda.
Archer breathed fire in the Powerplay, removing SRH's top three - Abhishek, Travis Head and Ishan Kishan. Pat Cummins and Co. never recovered from the blow and ended up losing the game by a big margin of 47 runs.
After removing Abhishek on the second ball of the innings, Archer was smashed by Ishan Kishan for boundaries. The ace pacer completed his revenge by sending the southpaw back to the hut with a fiery delivery that had a pace of over 150 kmph. Kishan sliced the ball to the fielder at extra cover.
Travis Head then tried to provide SRH some momentum in the chase, but Archer cleaned him up to kill the game in the Powerplay itself.
Srikkanth also slammed SRH's batting order as the side sent Smaran Ravichandran ahead of Heinrich Klaasen at the number 4 spot. Ravichandran was dismissed by Nandre Burger for a four-ball one.
"Travis Head is just blindly slogging. I am not sure why they sent Smaran ahead of Klassen. Was Klaasen not willing to play Archer, or did SRH want to send Klaasen after Archer's opening spell finished? It was unclear what their strategy was. They got to 50 in the third over itself, but once Kishan fell, it was a disastrous slide," Srikkanth concluded.
With the win over SRH, RR set up a Qualifier 2 clash with Gujarat Titans.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Rajasthan Royals