IPL Eliminator: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals Match Preview

Mullanpur. An eliminator match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals is being played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 on Wednesday. 

This match will be played at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur at 7:45 PM. The team that loses this match will be out of the competition.

Rajasthan opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi has a chance to break the record for the most sixes in a single season. This record is held by Chris Gayle. He hit 59 sixes for Bangalore in the 2012 season. Vaibhav has already hit 53 sixes this season.

Key Points

• Rajasthan has not been able to defeat Hyderabad in the last 6 matches. The team's last victory came on April 2, 2023, in Hyderabad. At that time, Rajasthan had defeated Hyderabad by 72 runs.
• Hyderabad reached the final by defeating Rajasthan in Qualifier-2 in the 2024 season. However, the team lost to Kolkata in the final.
• Rajasthan's Vaibhav Suryavanshi hit 4 sixes in the first over bowled by Praful Hingge on April 25, 2026, against Hyderabad. For the first time in IPL history, a batsman hit 4 sixes in the first over of an innings.
• James Faulkner of Rajasthan Royals is the only bowler to take 5 wickets in an innings twice in the IPL. He achieved this feat twice against Hyderabad.

Openers will decide the direction of the game

The result of the eliminator match will depend on the performance of the openers in the powerplay. On Hyderabad's side are Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, while on Rajasthan's side is the pair of Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

All four of these are openers who can change the direction of the game in the first six overs. The real pressure in playoff games is also at this stage.

• The Head-Abhishek pair has scored 690 runs this season, while Vaibhav-Jaiswal have scored 622 runs.
• Hyderabad's Head is scoring at a strike rate of 168.66, while his partner Abhishek's strike rate is 206.22.
• For Rajasthan, Suryavanshi's strike rate is 232.27 and Jaiswal's strike rate is 159.43.

Head-to-Head 

In head-to-head records, Hyderabad's performance is better than Rajasthan's. 23 IPL matches have been played between these two. Of which Hyderabad has won 14 matches and Rajasthan has won 9 matches.

Vaibhav is Rajasthan's top scorer

Vaibhav Suryavanshi is Rajasthan's top run-scoring player. He scored a century against Hyderabad this season. He has scored 583 runs in 14 matches. This includes 3 half-centuries. 

Similarly, Jofra Archer is the top wicket-taker. He has taken 21 wickets in 14 matches. Archer has conceded runs at an economy of 8.76 this season.

Klaasen has a chance to get the Orange Cap

Hyderabad's Heinrich Klaasen has a chance to win the Orange Cap. He has scored 606 runs in 14 matches. He will get the Orange Cap after scoring 32 more runs.

Ishan Kishan (569 runs) and Abhishek Sharma (563 runs) have also crossed the 500-run mark this season. In bowling, Ishan Malinga is at the top. He has taken 19 wickets.

Who to watch 

• Vaibhav Suryavanshi 

A total of 583 runs in 14 innings, at a strike rate of 232.37. Whatever happens in the eliminator, it has been an excellent season for Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Having hit 53 sixes so far, he needs seven more sixes to break Chris Gayle's record for the most sixes in a single IPL season. If he can do that, Rajasthan will be in a very strong position. 

This season, a quiet competition has developed between Vaibhav and Hyderabad's bowlers. When these two teams met for the first time in IPL 2026, Vaibhav was out for a duck on the first ball from Hingge. Taking the Player of the Match award, Hingge said: 'I wanted to get him out on the first ball, that was the plan.' 

Suryavanshi responded in the next meeting between Rajasthan and Hyderabad by scoring 103 runs off 37 balls. He scored 30 runs off 9 balls with 1 four and 4 sixes against Hingge, and 30 runs off 10 balls with 1 four and 4 sixes against Shakib. This third encounter between Vaibhav and Hyderabad could decide the match.

• Abhishek Sharma

On one side is Vaibhav, and on the other is Abhishek Sharma. It has been another excellent season for Hyderabad's opener: 563 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of 206.22. In terms of runs, this is Abhishek's best IPL season so far, and he will once again be a crucial weapon for Hyderabad in the eliminator. 

Like Vaibhav, Abhishek was also out for a duck on the first ball when Hyderabad faced Rajasthan, but 12 days later, he compensated by scoring 57 runs off 29 balls in Jaipur. Abhishek's record in IPL playoffs is not very good: 17 runs in 3 innings at an average of 5.70. Can he rectify his mistakes and lead Hyderabad to Qualifier-2?

High-scoring game expected in Mullanpur

Another high-scoring game is expected at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur. More than 200 runs have been scored in the last three matches here. Of which, the target was chased twice and the score was defended once. 

The day's temperature can reach from 25°C to 45°C. In such a situation, players may have to face heat and humidity.

Parag and Jadeja facing injury concerns

Rajasthan captain Riyan Parag is suffering from a hamstring injury, and Ravindra Jadeja is also battling an injury. Parag, who missed a group stage match earlier, had said that he did not plan to play the last match against Mumbai Indians but would 'definitely' play the eliminator. 

Meanwhile, Jadeja came in to bat at number nine as an impact player and bowled an over for 24 runs without taking a wicket. Later, Kumar Sangakkara said that Jadeja was 'recovering from injury'. However, both players are expected to play against Hyderabad.

• Rajasthan Royals (Probable): 1. Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2. Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 3. Dhruv Jurel (Wicketkeeper), 4. Riyan Parag (Captain), 5. Donovan Ferreira, 6. Shubham Dubey, 7. Ravindra Jadeja, 8. Dasun Shanaka, 9. Jofra Archer, 10. Nandre Burger, 11. Yashraj Punia, 12. Brijesh Sharma

There are no injury concerns for Hyderabad. Harshal Patel played the last match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, and there might be a competition between him and Praful Hingge for the last spot.

• Sunrisers Hyderabad (Probable): 1. Abhishek Sharma, 2. Travis Head, 3. Ishan Kishan (Wicketkeeper), 4. Heinrich Klaasen, 5. Salil Arora, 6. R. Samaran, 7. Nitish Kumar Reddy, 8. Pat Cummins (Captain), 9. Shivang Kumar, 10. Ishan Malinga, 11. Shakib Hussain, 12. Harshal Patel/Praful Hingge

Statistics and Interesting Information

• Riyan Parag has been dismissed three times by Pat Cummins in four IPL innings. His strike rate against Cummins is only 100 and his average is 4.66. Parag's record against Harshal is also average. He has also been dismissed three times by Harshal in four IPL innings, although his strike rate against this fast bowler is 168.96.
• This IPL, both Klaasen and Kishan have been excellent against spinners, but their record against Ravindra Jadeja is not very good. Kishan has scored only 37 runs at a strike rate of 116 against Jadeja in eight IPL innings. Klaasen's strike rate against Jadeja in the IPL is only 100, and he has been dismissed by him once in six innings.
• The contest between Jofra Archer and Hyderabad's top three batsmen could be very exciting. Archer's strike rate against Head in T20 is 160.60, but he has also been dismissed by him three times in six innings, including once at the beginning of this season. Abhishek's strike rate against Archer in T20 is 177.14, but he was dismissed by Archer when these two teams met for the first time this season. The average of Kishan against Archer in T20 is 90 and the strike rate is 150.
• Dasun Shanaka's strike rate against Harshal in T20 is 238. In which he has scored 62 runs in four innings.
• Cummins' economy in the death overs is only 5.66, which is excellent compared to any bowler bowling more than two overs in this phase.

What did they say?

'It's a good challenge, we have to show our best game in the knockout. We have many trump cards and don't want to repeat the mistakes made in the first phase of the competition. We are also in a good mental state and everyone wants to do well.'

– Rajasthan all-rounder Dasun Shanaka, saying there is no pressure of knockout

'Their first game started with a big excitement and roar, and all eyes of the cricket world were on them. I think their performance has had some ups and downs since their debut. Again, it's just the journey of a young player finding his way, but there's no doubt they've had some really important performances for us in the games since their debut, in those moments of the game where they've bowled some really important overs for us. So it's good to see and it's also very good as a group that new players come in, perform, and make a big contribution to the group.'

– Hyderabad assistant coach James Franklin on the development of Shakib and Hingge