Sai Sudharsan responds to successive hit-wicket dismissals in IPL 2026
What's the story
Gujarat Titans (GT) opener Sai Sudharsan was dismissed hit-wicket for the second consecutive match in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season. After being hit-wicket in the IPL 2026 Eliminator against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), he was out in the same fashion during the Qualifier 2 against Rajasthan Royals (RR). The incident made him a part of an unwanted record with three hit-wicket dismissals in his T20 career. Here's what Sudharsan said.
Match details
A bizarre dismissal for Sudharsan
In the match against RR, GT were chasing a target of 215 runs. Sudharsan was looking good for another big innings when his bat slipped while driving Brijesh Sharma's low full toss through the off side. The bat flew out of his hands in the follow-through and hit the stumps directly. A visibly upset Sudharsan walked back in disbelief as Shubman Gill at the other end dropped to his knees.
Previous incidents
Sudharsan joins Russell and Malik
Sudharsan's first hit-wicket dismissal had come in 2022 at the Brabourne Stadium against Mumbai Indians (MI). He then got hit-wicket versus RCB in the IPL 2026 Eliminator. He now shares the unwanted record with Andre Russell and Shoaib Malik, who have also been out hit wicket three times in T20 cricket.
Words
'I think I should try some things'
After the match, Sudharsan joked about his unique dismissals and said he would be trying some grip tech before batting next time. "I think I should try some things," Sudharsan told the broadcasters about the freak dismissal. "I'm going to try some grip tech now and just bat a few balls and see how it is. But honestly, I don't have a lot of answers on how it happened."
Summary
Sudharsan slams his 9th 50-plus score of IPL 2026
The stylish left-hander scored a quickfire 58 off just 32 balls as his side won the contest to reach the final. This was his ninth 50-plus score of the season, tying him for the second-highest number of such scores in a single season's history. Sudharsan equaled David Warner's tally of nine 50-plus scores in an IPL season. The only player ahead of him is Virat Kohli, who had 11 such scores during his legendary 2016 campaign.
Information
710 runs in IPL 2026
Sudharsan's knock had 8 fours and a six. He has amassed 710 runs from 16 IPL games this season at an average of 47.33. In addition to a century, he has hit 8 fifties. Overall, in 56 IPL matches, he has scored 2,503 runs at 49.07. He slammed his 20th IPL fifty (100s: 3).