Sooryavanshi's 97-run blitz sweeps Royals past Sunrisers into Qualifier 2
The Rajasthan Royals are one win away from the IPL 2026 Grand Finale. In the Eliminator, played in New Chandigarh, the Royals banked a staggering batting display, followed it up with a strong showing with the ball, and knocked out the Sunrisers Hyderabad by 47 runs to book their place in Qualifier 2.
It was poetic that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi started the carnage with the bat — and fittingly, he was the one to take the final catch to seal the win. Sushant Mishra bowled at pace from around the wicket, Shivang Kumar swung and missed, and the ball flew off a thickish outside edge to short third, where Sooryavanshi placed himself a bit fine and took the catch around his face to wrap up proceedings.
Sooryavanshi's storm sets the game ablaze
Earlier in the day, Pat Cummins put the Rajasthan Royals into bat, and it backfired badly. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi seemed on top of his game and took the SRH bowling attack to the cleaners, finishing just three shy of what could have been the fastest IPL century when Praful Hinge caught him at deep third. Hinge took three wickets in total, but everyone else simply could not conjure up wicket-taking opportunities until the death overs. Dhruv Jurel hit his sixth half-century of the season, but towards the end the Royals lost steam, losing wickets for fun and falling short of the 250-run mark which had seemed a formality. It turned out to be more than enough at the end of the day.
Named Player of the Match for his scintillating knock of 97 off just 29 balls, Sooryavanshi said the team had won the match and would carry that positive intent into the next game. Reflecting on missing out on the hundred, he revealed he only realised after getting out: "I wasn't focused on anything other than doing the best for my team." On his pre-match preparation, he said he simply tries to focus on lining up the opposition bowlers and how he can put them away, adding that he tries to keep his intent up when he is dominating.
Archer's carnage at the top
Jofra Archer was the reason Rajasthan managed to qualify for the playoffs on the final day of league action, and again he took a wicket in the very first over to set the tone. He got rid of all of Hyderabad's top three left-handers and killed the game, even taking as many as three catches to go along with it. Apart from Archer, Yash Punja made a big contribution with the ball, claiming the prized wicket of Heinrich Klaasen, while Ravindra Jadeja and Nandre Burger chipped in with a couple of wickets apiece, the latter highly economical as well.
Asked about his own performance, Archer said that apart from the figures, he felt he bowled alright — and not just him, but all the guys bowled well. "Usually the team that gets the most wickets in the Powerplay wins the game, and you just have to hang in there, because even your good balls will go for boundaries," he added. On Sooryavanshi, he said it was exciting to watch and the more runs he gets, the better it is for the bowlers, before jokingly vowing to reveal where he bowls to him in the nets after the season ends.
SRH's chase crumbles
To live and die by the sword is probably SRH's motto, but they will be disappointed not to have taken things closer, especially after how they pulled things back with the ball. Abhishek Sharma was undone by a searing bumper, and Head's underwhelming season continued. Ishan Kishan played a fiery cameo, but when Heinrich Klaasen got out, all hope seemed lost. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Salil Arora fought valiantly with a couple of 30s, but it was never going to be enough. Shivang Kumar had a bit of fun as he took down Archer for a plethora of boundaries to drag the margin of loss under 50 runs, but it was still a hefty defeat.
Reflecting on the season, a gracious Pat Cummins praised Sooryavanshi for the way he batted and felt his side did not have too many options on a surface like this, where the margins were extremely small. "A lot of things needed to go right for us in a chase of this nature, but losing a couple of wickets at the wrong time made the task far too difficult in the end," he said. Cummins also hailed Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain for their performances in their maiden season and, despite tonight's loss, said he could not have asked for much more from the boys.
Royals stay in the hunt
Royals skipper Riyan Parag called it a really good game of cricket overall but admitted that, as a perfectionist, he felt RR should probably have pushed closer to 260 given the position they were in, adding that finishing off the innings better remains an area to work on. He revealed there are hardly any conversations around Sooryavanshi within the group because they simply prefer leaving him alone to do his thing, giving him plenty of batting practice and letting the youngster play his natural game. Of Archer, Parag said the banter never really stops and called him "one of the best, if not the best, T20 bowlers in the world."
The Royals now take on a bruised Gujarat Titans side in Qualifier 2, eager to get back to its best. RR will have a slight edge — the match will be played right here in New Chandigarh, and they carry the confidence of a win behind them — but the Titans have the edge of being well-rested, so there is not much to differentiate the two teams. Two blowouts in a row have seen teams put into bat and win, but back-to-back big scores in knockout clashes mean the opposition starts to crumble when those early wickets fall. Sunrisers Hyderabad, known as a fearless side, see their 2026 campaign end here as the fourth-best team of the season.
Qualifier 2 will be played on Friday, 29 May, beginning at 7.30 pm IST (2 pm GMT), with the winner heading to the Grand Finale.