Rajasthan Royals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 47 runs in the Eliminator of the Indian Premier League 2026. It was a terrific performance from the Rajasthan side who dominated with both bat and ball. Rajasthan Royals were put into bat first and they got off to a flier in the powerplay. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashed 97 runs from just 29 balls to completely take the game away. Dhruv Jurel made a half century and Rajasthan Royals posted 243/8 at the end of the first innings. Chasing the target, Sunrisers Hyderabad lost the wicket of Abhishek in the first over. Ishan Kishan played an excellent cameo but they kept losing wickets as Archer scalped three in the powerplay. Nitish Reddy tried his best in the middle overs but it was not enough as they were bowled out for 196 and Rajasthan Royals cruised to a win. They will now face Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier 2 of the IPL.
RR 243/8 ( Vaibhav 97, Hinge 3/54) beat SRH 196 (Nitish Reddy 38, Archer 3/58)
Pat Cummins | SRH captain:
(What was it like with Sooryavanshi going crazy?) Yeah, he played pretty well. Yeah, just don't feel like you have too many options. Obviously, it's a really good pitch, but the margins are so small. If you miss your yorker by a little bit, he doesn't tend to miss them. So yeah, fair play. (Are there any regrets from choosing to chase?) Not really. It was a pretty good wicket even there at the end. (On unearthing young players) I think we end up as a really well-rounded team. Praful and Sakib were awesome. Young guys haven't played a lot. I think I saw a stat today, we're one of the youngest teams to make the playoffs or something this year, or ever, or something like that, which shows some of the talent that the coaching group have unearthed. So yeah, it's great as a captain seeing them go about it. (Did you think you can chase it at the halfway mark?) I think a few things still need to go right to chase down 240, but if there was ever going to be a pitch and a field to do it, it was this one. I think we stayed on the rate for most of the innings. We just kind of lost probably a couple too many wickets at the wrong time. So it was always going to be tough, but gave ourselves a decent chance. (Two playoffs in three years) Yeah, that's right. I think we were one tiny little bit away from being in the top two as well. So you can't ask for much more. The boys have been fantastic, their attitude all year, the way they've gone about it. It looks like they've really enjoyed their cricket, so I can't ask for any more
Jofra Archer:
(How did that feel tonight?) Apart from the figures, pretty alright. I think all of the guys bowled alright. We stuck to our plans, we stuck to our lengths and we were rewarded tonight. (Striking first ball) Second [ball]. Yeah, usually the team that gets the most wickets in the powerplay, usually wins the game. So it's a lot of pressure, but I take it on and I do my best for the team. (How do you plan against damaging batters?) Honestly, you've just got to hold your nerve. As you said, they're really damaging, so your good balls are going to go for boundaries, your bad balls are going to go for boundaries as well. So you've just got to hang in there and just always keep thinking wickets because with that first four, like trying to get through the overs, it's never going to happen. (What was that like sitting in the dugout?) It was very exciting. The more runs he (Sooryavanshi) scores, the more runs we have to defend. So he can go on and get 150, so it's good for the boys when he gets a lot of runs. (Have you bowled to him in the nets?) Sometimes. (Where do you bowl to him?) I'll tell you after the IPL. (Very confident going forward) Every game at a time. I think we are peak, well, I don't want to say peaking and we're going in the right direction at the right time. We don't want what happened to Kings XI [PBKS] to happen to us. So I think we're on the right path. Everyone chipping in every game and that's the important part.
Riyan Parag: I like to be a perfectionist. Today we should have got 260, right? Was impressed with the way we bowled, we came back really well. Just leave him alone, he likes batting. He goes on and does his thing. I feel it brings out more from people. When everything is on line, everyone turned up a little more. We keep on having banters. I went up to Jofra and asked him to be a little straighter. He bowls at 150 clicks, and he does his job. Rest tomorrow, we have had a great day. Need to rest and recover.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | Player of the Match:
We have won, so need to move on with a positive intent. I think a little, not much. Try to keep things simple. Just think about the bowlers and what plans I can have against them. I try to play with good intent and dominate the bowlers. I want to pressurise the bowler. My focus was on contributing for the team. How to win the trophy, that's my focus now. If I have any weakness, I try to work on that and improve on that aspect of my game.
