Watch: Sunrisers Hyderabad dismiss Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh early in SRH vs PBKS IPL 2026 clash

Earlier in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, the Punjab Kings earned a record by completing the highest successful chase in the history of the event. They needed another such strong batting show in the 236-run chase against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. 

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One of the reasons for the Sunrisers Hyderabad to cross the 235-run mark in the first innings on a tricky surface, which was a bit two-paced with the old delivery, was the poor fielding show of Punjab, who dropped several catches as Hyderabad made them pay for it.

SRH send back both PBKS openers in quick succession during IPL 2026

When the Kings chased that massive score against the Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, their opening pair of Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya provided them a firing start inside the powerplay to put them in a strong position early. But they couldn’t continue the same heroics against Hyderabad.

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On the first five balls of the opening over, only four singles came, and the pressure mounted on young Arya to break free and play the pressure-releasing shot to end the over. And the SRH captain, Pat Cummins, bluffed the southpaw with a short ball, putting the field for a full delivery.

The Delhi-born was on his front foot and was shocked at the short delivery. The hook shot didn’t come off the bat as the ball went in the air before the deep square leg fielder grabbed a brilliant catch.

Watch: Punjab Kings continue to drop regulation catches in SRH vs PBKS IPL 2026 clash

On the very first ball of the second over, Nitish Reddy sent back Prabhsimran for three runs. The right-handed batter lost his shape while playing the drive over extra cover as the leading edge went high in the air before the cover fielder grabbed a superb catch.

PBKS loses three wickets inside powerplay

The Kings also lost their captain, Shreyas Iyer, for five runs. While chasing in 2026, it was his first single-digit score after four successive half-centuries, while it was also his first low score against Hyderabad in IPL 2026 after three half-centuries in the last five encounters.

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Thanks to the 16-run fifth over, the 2014 runners-up were restricted to 48/3 inside the powerplay before they also saw the return of Marcus Stoinis in the seventh over.

Brief Scores (at the time of writing): PBKS 109/4 (Cooper Connolly 41*, N Reddy 1/11) vs SRH- 235/4 (Heinrich Klaasen 69, Ishan Kishan 55, Y Chahal 1/32) 

Fans react to SRH sending back PBKS openers in IPL 2026

Here is how the fans reacted to the Hyderabad bowlers being excellent with the ball in the IPL 2026-