Pat Cummins is one of the world’s most celebrated fast bowlers, but he has admitted to learning from the way his colleagues at Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have bowled during IPL 2026, picking out Eshan Malinga and Sakib Hussain for their impact through the season.

Malinga is SRH’s leading wicket-taker with 19 strikes in 14 games, and Sakib, in his debut season, has picked up 15 in 10 games. The two of them were instrumental in SRH’s 55-run win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Friday night, using their slower balls to telling effect during RCB’s chase and finishing with combined figures of 8-0-64-3. Their combined economy rate of 8.00 was particularly impressive given that SRH had posted a mammoth 255 for 4 batting first.

Malinga and Sakib made crucial contributions in the powerplay, bowling three overs between them in that phase and taking a wicket each to slow down RCB after Venkatesh Iyer had given them a blazing start.

“They’ve been fantastic,” Cummins said after the match. “I’ve actually learned a lot off those guys as well, the way Eshan’s bowled all season, particularly in that powerplay, he’s been the form bowler of the comp, with his slower balls and he’s mixing up different things, and of course, Sakib there as well, so captain’s dream.”

SRH’s victory meant they ended the league stage tied on 18 points with RCB and Gujarat Titans (GT), but the latter two teams finished in the top two spots courtesy their superior net run rate (NRR). SRH’s effort with the bat put them in a position to leapfrog RCB into the top two, but they would have needed to restrict RCB to below 166 if they had to do so.

Cummins felt SRH made a good effort to try and get to that top-two spot, but always knew it was a tough ask to restrict RCB given how good the batting conditions in Hyderabad were.

“It’s a pretty good wicket. I knew a lot of things had to go our way,” he said. “Yeah, it got close. I think they were trying to make sure they got to that score [166], so we threw a few different things at them, but yeah, it’s still a big win.”

RCB will face GT in Qualifier 1 on May 26, and SRH will feature in the Eliminator on May 27, where they will meet one of three teams – Rajasthan Royals (RR), Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) – currently vying for the final playoffs spot.