Rajasthan Royals put on an all-round performance to crush Sunrisers Hyderabad by 47 runs in the Indian Premier League 2026 Eliminator and earn a place in Qualifier 2. Although it was expected to be a high-scoring thriller between two batting-heavy sides, it turned out to be a one-sided affair mainly because of teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
Before the match, SRH skipper Pat Cummins had confidently assured us that Hyderabad had a variety of plans to respond to the 15-year-old batting prodigy. But none of those plans worked once Sooryavanshi struck back. The Rajasthan opener completely dominated the Hyderabad bowling attack and scored 97 runs in just 29 deliveries.
During his explosive stint at the crease, Sooryavanshi hit 12 sixes and etched his name into IPL history. The youngster broke Chris Gayle’s 14-year-old record of the most sixes in a season in IPL. He also holds the record for the most sixes hit in the power play of an IPL match.
After Sooryavanshi’s dismissal, Dhruv Jurel continued the carnage with a quickfire 50 off only 21 balls. Rajasthan appeared to be heading towards the 270-run mark at one point, but Hyderabad bowlers pulled things back in the final overs. Returning to the playing XI, Praful Hinge took three wickets while Nitish Kumar Reddy bowled effectively in the last overs to restrict the Rajasthan Royals to 243 runs.
Despite the daunting target, Hyderabad’s powerful batting line-up was expected to fight hard. But Rajasthan’s bowlers, led by Jofra Archer, ensured the chase never really took off.
Abhishek Sharma was dismissed for a duck, continuing his poor record in IPL playoffs, where he has only 19 runs in four matches. His opening partner, Travis Head, got only 17 runs also.
Wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan had a quick cameo of 33 runs in 11 balls but couldn't convert it into a big innings. Heinrich Klaasen was also out cheaply after scoring 18.
Later on in the innings, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Salil Arora attempted to revive the chase with knocks of 38 and 35, respectively, but the required rate had already climbed out of reach.
Jofra Archer was the game-changer with the ball for the Rajasthan Royals. The England speedster took three crucial wickets in the powerplay, dismissing Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Ishan Kishan to effectively shut Hyderabad out of the game.
With this big win, the Rajasthan Royals go to Qualifier 2. They will face the Gujarat Titans for a place in the final against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. For Sunrisers Hyderabad, the loss ended their IPL 2026 campaign.
