10:10pm Pat Cummins emerges from the dressing room, and huge cheers engulf the stadium in Hyderabad. Shubman Gill also comes in and joins Cummins, Vettori and the umpires in the middle. Vikram Solanki shakes hands with the officials. Gill also shakes hands with Cummins, Vettori and the officials. The match has been officially called off!

Such a dampener, especially for Titans. Their last home game, where they were to wear the lavender jersey to support breast cancer awareness, was washed out. And their final game of IPL 2024, where they decided to wear the special jersey again, also has been abandoned.

But smile if you are a SRH fan! They have qualified for the playoffs. They are the third team, after KKR and RR, to secure a spot in the playoffs. They also have a scope of finishing in the top two, if RR slip up in their last outing.

Another wet end to an IPL game. That is all we have today from the IPL. Do join us tomorrow when LSG take on Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium. Till then, take care, ciao!

10:05pm Umpires Nand Kishore and Virender Sharma, holding umbrellas, are involved in a discussion with the ground-staff. Must be to understand how long it will take for them to get play underway after the rain stops. The officials will perhaps then reverse-calculate from 10:56pm to then see if we could have a game. This is my version, could be entirely off the mark.

Rajendra : "SRH played like Superheroes in this season. Out of the blue. You really feel bad if you are in stadium and it is raining. You feel more bad when you are supporting your team from distances and you have complete dry wheather around you."

Abhinav: "I bet the conversation would've been about biryani is better at which place in Hyderabad."

10pm The players and support staff emerge from the dressing room. There is a slight drizzle still, as evidenced by some match officials holding the umbrella as they walk out.

Satheesh: "why cant they cover the entire ground once it starts raining?" About 80-90% was under covers today

SAKharade : "Looks like everything is going in RCB's favour...2 washouts, 5 straight wins" In a way the washout doesn't exactly benefit RCB, because only a win against CSK won't suffice for them to go through

9:45pm Drizzle still on. Mop-ups won't start until they stop fully. We are now getting closer to the territory where it could be touch and go. The outfield would have soaked in a lot of water, and drying that would be massive effort.

And while we wait for the rain to relent, here's a TCM photo feature on the theme of rain and cricket to keep you hooked.

Have you voted for your best performance of IPL 2024 yet?

Kumar : "Do you get ideas on the fly to hook people cricinfo though there is not match or you do some homework :P" Haha, we prepare for the game and not much for the rain ;) Got any ideas?

krishna: "the current srh anthem's video song also featured cummins with the now trademark silence pose for the first time"

Rajkumar Lingav: "Till date CSK's theme is the THE BEST THEME song I have ever heard. Namma Thala Dhoniku periya whistle adinga means "Whistle for Dhoni"."

9:20pm Uh, oh! The rain has intensified. It is accompanied by some lightning, too.

Aayush: "The current SRH anthem is the most energetic we've got, and it's even got a catchy hook in "Orange Army aate tsunami"! "Go go orange army" fans, don't @ me!"

Vasi: "Theme song of Deccan Chargers is the best till date and Gilly proved it recently !! Go Chargers Go Go Go !! "

Srinath: "May not be a popular opinion but as a CSK fan hoping for more of this on the 18th as well. I dont see how CSK can beat such a red hot RCB. CSK still has to win the eliminator though to have a Thala send off in Chennai!"

Sriram : "KORBO LORBO JEETBO RE! was also an amazing anthem that featured SRK!"

Roshan Jain: "Could we schedule GT's match in other parts of India where we want rain to give some relief from heat."

Abhilash : "As an RR and Sanju fan, I hope rain stops only after 10.50 pm :)" They still have to win their last game for a top two spot

9:15pm The drizzle is still steady. But not enough to dampen the spirits of those at the venue. They are happily showing off their moves as the DJ belts out some Allu Arjun hits. A reminder that the cut-off time for a five-over game to start is 10:56pm. Which means we need the drizzle to stop and mop-ups to begin by around 10:15pm.

Shyam: "Maybe not lyrics but should have a hook which people can chant or embody! For eg. MI anthem had 'duniya hila denge'. Simple lyrics with awesome music!" shilpa: "SRH anthems may come and go but 2013's anthem is so memorable. Watching it on TV in my teens I listen to it on YT before every season!"

Kauahik: "What happens to the qualification equations if this match is washed away?" DC's hopes get dashed, SRH qualify, RCB-CSK game becomes a winner-takes-all clash

Teja: "Rains this month have been a relief after the relentless heatwave in April. I'm confused about how I should feel about this rain interruption."

Pranali: "The srh anthem has good music but you usually want an anthem to be something that fans can sing along, not something where you try to portray your album skills. If it were a homework assignment I would give the composer a 6.5 for effort" Hahaha! Would you want an anthem to have good lyrics necessarily OR music that sounds good in a massive stadium?

8:55pm Huge cheers across the stadium in Hyderabad. Not because the rain has eased out or the covers are coming off. The DJ is playing some Telugu chartbusters, and there is a massive light show on, too! The peppy new SRH anthem is being belted out as I type. How do you rate the anthem, peeps? I quite like the music.

'Who next after Sunil Chhetri?' has been a question that's been asked in Indian football circles for many a year now. Chhetri himself kept it at bay thanks to his incredible longevity and productivity, but with India's greatest-ever goalscorer announcing his retirement, the question takes centre stage again. So, who's ready to step up and take the mantle?

8.45pm More than an hour into the delay, we have nothing new to update. Still continues to pour in Hyderabad. We keep waiting for any news, or for the toss and the action to get closer. Until then, it is back to Sudarshanan.

Meanwhile, the player who had come to embody Indian football to a cricket-crazy country, who scored 94 goals for his nation and put himself - statistically, at least - in the same bracket as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who time after time delivered when it mattered, has announced his retirement from international football. Sunil Chhetri. Captain. Leader. Legend.

8.15pm In a reminder, it continues to rain steadily in Hyderabad. So the pitch and the outfield remain covered. We are 45 minutes past the scheduled start of play, but we are yet to even have the toss due to the constant rain at the moment. We'll get back with the latest news as we hear more.

Anjan: "Ironically, I am singing 'rain, rain go away' to put my daughter to sleep" --- May the Gods listen, and solve two problems at once!

Sam: "To scratch everything out? Because for that, I will have to PRINT IT, which, as much as I love Cricinfo, is a bit too much" --- An alternative is that you can scratch the screen of your laptop or phone, if that isn't too much for all your love for Cricinfo!

Bhuvi: "Sitting in USA, I should trust Cricinfo more than the weather app I guess. Weather app shows no rain in Hyderabad." --- Ah, and I'm sure the Bhuvi in SRH's dressing room cannot wait to get out for some action either!

7.46pm Please scratch everything I wrote below, because the rain - and hence, the covers - are back! The drizzle has turned into a proper rain in Hyderabad. The pitch is covered, although the outfield isn't yet. But just five minutes after I write this, the rain gets heavier still. This clearly means that the toss has been delayed further.

"The way you gave us hope and took it away is the same that I had on my high-school crush when she smiled at me!" --- Apologies for reminding you of the hurt, Karthik! But we've all been through it...

Shankar: "I am looking at the Espnricinfo app so incessantly that my wife warned me that she will staple the phone to my face :(" --- Damn! Please explain to her how relevant the game remains even during a rain break

7.44pm Meanwhile, the toss will be held at 8pm local. The match is set to start at 8.15pm.

Mitch: "I have three monitors. One is always showing the ESPNcricinfo page during IPL games. I'll do some work on the other monitors, but I never leave cricket until it's over..." --- Please don't leave the rain until it's gone too!

Hello, everyone. All I have to say for now is that there is nothing new to say! The toss remains delayed due to a wet outfield.

7:35pm Lots of groundstaff working on getting the pitch ready. The stump mics being put up and are being tested.

While we wait for the start, go on, tell me what do you do during such delays? How often do you check ESPNcricinfo app for the updates, or do you even leave the app? Let Himanshu know, as he comes in for a while. Hopefully with brighter news.

7:23pm All the covers, including the one on the pitch, are off now. No update yet about toss time, even as players from either sides use the opportunity to catch up with one another.

Saman: "@Ashish - Thala has been getting ho hos for years now. What happens in a couple of games will not take anything away from him. If he is in the playoffs, the IPL is blessed."

Ajay: "@ashish - Did anyone said this is Thala's last season? Also he wont want the dramatic exit and all. Knows when to quit and he has achieved everything other legends even dreamt of..!! So no worries..!!"

"SRH should crush GT and reduce the chances for CSK. Let there be no final ho ho for Thala!" Oh my! Why so, Ashish?

7:15pm The covers are finally coming off! The centre cover is still on, perhaps precautionary. The supersopper is doing its thing to reduce the water accumulated on the covers.

6:55pm Bad news peeps. The rain in Hyderabad has intensified. The toss has been delayed.

"Wow, Cricinfo hired Sai Sudarshan for commentary" --- Not yet, Hardik Desai. I'm Sudarshanan!

You can use the break to read an interview with Nitish Kumar Reddy, a promising seam-bowling allrounder, who had a good domestic season. Vishal Dikshit caught up with him recently.

john : "well i am in the ground.the rain has stopped but outfield is not a great sight for start of match"

Jalaj Arora: "As a CSK fan I guess I should be supporting GT today for CSK to have a chance of finishing in the top 2?"

Suman: "Azfer, I don't see a place for Glenn Phillips in the side unless they go batting heavy. Head, Klassen "

6:50pm It is still drizzling. The mop up operations are still on. Could take some time by the looks of it. The covers are not all off yet. But let's talk about Titans for a bit. They had a dream start to the IPL, finishing as winners and then runners-up in their first two seasons. But this year has been a forgettable one, having failed to make the playoffs. Shashank Kishore tries to make sense of what's gone wrong for them in IPL 2024.

6:40pm SRH are back at home, where they have won four of the five games so far. Rashid Khan also returns to his former home. More to get you up to speed in Vishal Dikshit's preview. One of SRH's key players has been Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mitchell McClenaghan thinks he has upped his game.

Dillon : "It's been quite a while between games for SRH, so hopefully they are refreshed and ready to play today"

Azfer: "Glenn Phillips must come in today for Jansen, gives a good spinning option, wk option, insane fielder, and great batsman."

You can also follow the ball-by-ball coverage of this game in Hindi.

6:30pm Good evening everyone! How is it going? We are towards the fag end of the league stage of IPL 2024. Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Gujarat Titans in Hyderabad. A win for SRH will likely ensure a playoffs spot for them. GT are already out. But the early sightings of the venue is not promising. The whole ground was under covers, with only the areas near the boundary cushions left open. Those areas are quite soggy, and there is a slight drizzle as I type this. Hopefully not much of a delay. Let's see how this goes. I am S Sudarshanan and will have Himanshu Agarwal's company throughout the day. Stay tuned!

GV: "How about the odds of playoffs scenario in case of washout.?" A washout also helps SRH, because they get to 15.