Former Indian opener Kris Srikkanth questioned Abhishek Sharma’s aggressive approach after Sunrisers Hyderabad suffered a 82-run loss against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
SRH were chasing a competitive total of 169 runs on a tricky pitch but lost the early wicket of Travis Head, who was dismissed without troubling the scorers. Despite losing his opening partner early, Abhishek smashed a first-ball six. On the second ball, he once again danced down the ground but failed to make any connection. But on the fourth ball of the over, he was cleaned up by Kagiso Rabada to leave SRH tottering at 6-2.
Kris Srikkanth said on his YouTube Channel, “Abhishek Sharma smashed the first ball for six. Why is he charging the second ball? He should have got out that ball itself, but eventually charged again to be dismissed on the fourth ball. You need to show some application. They are brilliant only when the going is good. Their batters can keep winning Orange Caps or any other cap. But sometimes you have to apply yourself.”
On the other hand, the 1983 World Cup-winning player also questioned Travis Head’s performances in the ongoing season. Head has scored 361 runs in 12 matches at an average of 30.08 and a strike rate of 171.09 in IPL 2026.
“If they are going to become a championship side, this kind of batting will not do. Rabada just does everything with the ball at high speeds. His line was fully on the stumps at Test match lengths. Travis Head hasn’t been able to lay bat on ball this entire season. He scored flukishly in a couple of matches through dropped catches,” said Srikkanth (via the aforementioned source).
“When you know you are not connecting well, why play shots? He’s playing on the on-side and getting out to third man on the off-side. SRH only bowled first and saw that the pitch was hard against the medium pacers. Shouldn’t someone like Travis Head apply? Can you just score like that by slogging blindly?”
Sunrisers Hyderabad will next take on Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Monday.
