Krishnamachari Srikkanth didn’t hold back when he talked about Abhishek Sharma’s playoff performances in the IPL. After Abhishek chased a bouncer from Jofra Archer and ended up getting caught behind on just his second ball, Sunrisers Hyderabad found themselves stumbling right out of the gate in their chase against Rajasthan Royals. They needed 244 but got nowhere close, collapsing to 196.
“Abhishek Sharma has always failed in the playoffs. He’s been a huge failure in knockout games. That’s what keeps dragging SRH down since 2024. Archer destroyed SRH in the powerplay, even though Kishan gave them a flying start,” Srikkanth vented on his YouTube channel, as quoted by Sportskeeda.
Archer really tore through SRH early, knocking over Abhishek, Travis Head, and Ishan Kishan before the innings got going. After that punch, SRH never pulled it together—they went down by 47 runs.
Right after dismissing Abhishek, Archer got hammered by Ishan Kishan for a few boundaries. But Archer came back even harder, firing a 150 kph rocket and getting Kishan to slice it straight to extra cover.
Travis Head tried to steady things, but Archer finished him off in the Powerplay, leaving SRH in deep trouble.
Srikkanth didn’t just go after the players—he questioned the decision-making too. SRH sent Smaran Ravichandran in at number 4, ahead of Heinrich Klaasen, but Smaran only managed a single before Nandre Burger got him. “Travis Head was just swinging blindly. And why send Smaran above Klaasen? Was Klaasen avoiding Archer, or did they want him to come in after the Powerplay? Nothing made sense. They raced to 50 by the third over, but after Kishan fell, it was a steep slide from there,” Srikkanth said.
With this win, Rajasthan Royals set up a Qualifier 2 tie against Gujarat Titans
