Resurgent Rajasthan Royals rely on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Archer to upstage power-packed Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunrisers Hyderabad had a slow start to the competition before finding sustained momentum in the second half of the tournament. The arrival of regular captain Pat Cummins in the last seven league games also had a significant impact and they won five of those competitions.
Having beaten Rajasthan Royals twice in the league stage, Cummins and Co. would carry the psychological advantage going into the high-pressure knockout fixture.
Also Read: RCB win IPL 2026 Qualifier 1 match, crush Gujarat Titans by 100 runs to enter final
By their own admission, the Royals should have qualified much earlier than the final day of the league stage, but now that they are there, the Riyan Parag-led unit will be pushing a bit to get past Sunrisers Hyderabad and progress further deeper into the tournament.
Royals’ top order comprising the sensational Sooryavanshi (583 runs) Yashasvi Jaiswal (397) and Dhruv Jurel (458) are expected to score the bulk of the runs in the team.
Same is the case with Sunrisers’ trio of Abhishek Sharma (563 runs), Travis Head (393) and Ishan Kishan (569). Special mention needs to be made of fourth-placed Henrich Klaasen (606), who is in the middle of his best IPL season. Despite the disruptive talent of both top orders, Jaiswal and Head have not been as consistent as they would have liked. The Eliminator presents them with an ideal game-changing opportunity for their team.
The Sunrisers are arguably the most destructive team in the tournament and so it was no surprise that Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara was asked about his plans to deal with the opposition’s scrappy top four teams.
“They’re a good team, aren’t they? They’re hitting well. They’re very confident and they’ve done that all tournament long. We really need to hold the line. Be disciplined and understand that they’re not a team you’re going to limit to 120, 130. But we have to be aggressive in terms of our lines and our lengths.”
After sneaking into the play-offs, Sangakkara said, “Even if you are trying to bowl a long length ball or a slower ball, you have to bowl consciously. With Sunrisers, yes, it will be a tough clash for us. Let’s see what we face in two days.”
The Sri Lankan legend made the ball do the talking both conventionally and cross-seam, relying on leading wicket-taker Jofra Archer (21 wickets) to come up with another match-winning spell in the powerplay on Wednesday night, as he did in a must-win clash against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede.
Nandre Burger and Brijesh Sharma also performed effectively at every stage of the game.
While young leg-spinner Yash Raj Punja has emerged as the leading spinner ahead of Ravi Bishnoi in his debut IPL season, experienced Ravindra Jadeja needs to do more with both bat and ball.
Count on Sooryavanshi at the top of the order not to show respect to the likes of Cummins, leading wicket-taker Eshan Malinga (19) and Sakib Hussain. If the youngster stays out of the blocks on the power play, he could very well take the game away from the opponent.
Shivang Kumar, another wrist spinner in his rookie season, also made his presence felt in the Sunrisers’ midfield.
The Mullanpur Stadium, which has hosted four league matches this season, has offered a good batting surface, with the home team scoring over 220 goals in three of these competitions, including 254 for Punjab Kings.
Squads:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Smaran Ravichandran, Aniket Verma, Abhishek Sharma, Harsh Dubey, Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (c), Eshan Malinga, Jaydev Unadkat, Harshal Patel, Zeeshan Ansari, Salil Arora, Sakib Hussain, Amit Kumar, Praful Hinge, Krains Fuletra, Liam Livingstone, Shivang Kumar, Onkar Tarmale, Dilshan Madushanka, Gerald Coetzee, RS Ambrish
Rajasthan Royals: Shubham Dubey, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Riyan Parag (c), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Maphaka, Sandeep Sharma, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Ravi Bishnoi, Sushant Mishra, Vignesh Puthur, Aman Rao Perala, Brijesh Sharma, Adam Milne, Kuldeep Sen, Dasun Shanaka, Yash Raj Punja, Emanjot Singh Chahal.
Match Starts: 19.30 IST.
