The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) haven’t been great on the field. The bowling is paper-thin. The batting has been underperforming. However, SRH believes the reason behind their performance, winning one and losing two, isn’t entirely on them.
Avesh Khan incident
In each of their three matches, there have been contentious decisions. All went against them. The most recent of which was Avesh Khan’s hitting the ball back into the ground with the bat while standing behind the ropes.
On the penultimate ball of the Lucknow Super Giants match on April 5, Rishabh Pant hit the winning shot, but the ball never went past the boundary. Avesh smashed it back with his bat. The incident lit a debate online, with some claiming that SRH should’ve been awarded 5 penalty runs since Avesh was guilty of violating Law 20.1 (Dead Ball) and Law 41 (Unfair Play).
However, the laws can’t be applied since Pant had already hit the ball over the fielder, and Avesh wasn’t true to stop a fielder from reaching the ball. But, SRH is expected to write to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) regarding the incident. But that isn’t all.
SRH upset with controversial decisions
According to Cricbuzz, SRH are unhappy with two controversial catches, both of which went against them. In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 opener against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Heinrich Klaasen was adjudged out despite some indication of Phil Salt’s leg touching the boundary line. But the umpire didn’t pay heed to it. The decision had split the internet, with several experts in shock at the final call made.
In their second match against the Kolkata Knight Riders, Varun Chakravarthy had seemingly grassed the ball at deep square leg. But Abhishek Sharma was adjudged out. The batter left the crease while cursing and was subsequently fined.
In both cases, the batters were set. Klaasen was batting on 31 while Abhishek was on 48. One doesn’t know whether the RCB match could’ve turned in their favour if Salt’s catch was adjudged as a six instead of a catch. SRH knows the results can’t be changed. But they aren’t pleased and want to take this issue up with BCCI.
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