Powered by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s explosive knock and backed by early strikes from Jofra Archer, Rajasthan Royals clinched a huge 47-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 Eliminator in New Chandigarh on Wednesday.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi starred with the bat once again, scoring 97 off 29 balls, including five fours and 12 sixes at a staggering strike rate of 334.48. His explosive innings helped RR post 243/8 - the highest score by RR in IPL.
Defending 244, the inaugural champions rode on Jofra Archer’s triple strike in the powerplay to restrict the Sunrisers Hyderabad to 196/10 in 19.2 overs. Archer finished his four-over spell for 3/58 and was RR’s top wicket-taker.
Rajasthan Royals will now face Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 on Friday. A win will take the Royals to their third IPL final after 2008 and 2022.
Jofra Archer struck with the second delivery of the innings to remove Abhishek Sharma for a duck.
Ishan Kishan came to the crease next and managed to hit a few fours and sixes before Jofra Archer removed him to capture his second wicket of the match and leave SRH in a spot of bother at 51/2.
The Royals then tightened their grip on the contest by removing Ravichandran Smaran, Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen for just 29 runs in the span of 21 deliveries, keeping the pressure on the Sunrisers’ batting line-up.
Despite a brief recovery from Nitish Kumar Reddy and impact substitute Salil Arora, who stitched together a 56-run partnership off just 24 balls, SRH never truly threatened a comeback.
The Sunrisers eventually slumped to a heavy defeat, bringing their IPL 2026 campaign to an end.
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Earlier, after being put in to bat, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi tore into the SRH bowling attack, sending the ball to all corners of the ground to give the Royals a blistering start.
He needed just three deliveries to clear the ropes for the first time, taking on Pat Cummins in the opening over and never easing off from there.
The 15-year-old looked unstoppable, dispatching the likes of Cummins, Eshan Malinga and Sakib Hussain for sixes with remarkable ease.
His seventh maximum in the fourth over took him past Chris Gayle’s record of 59 sixes - the most by any batter in a single IPL season - while his eighth maximum helped him race to a 16-ball half-century, which is the joint-fastest fifty in IPL playoffs.
Sooryavanshi, though, was far from finished as the teenager kept attacking relentlessly, piling pressure on the SRH bowlers and finding the boundary with unerring consistency.
He hammered five more sixes after reaching his fifty and looked set to threaten another Chris Gayle landmark - the fastest IPL century, off just 30 balls.
However, his breathtaking knock ended in heartbreak when an attempted upper cut off Hinge’s delivery resulted in a mistimed shot towards deep third, where he was safely caught, leaving the Royals in a strong position at 125/1.
Yashasvi Jaiswal fell shortly after, bringing Dhruv Jurel and RR captain Riyan Parag together at the crease.
The pair ensured the Royals’ momentum did not dip, stitching together a brisk 55-run partnership off just 21 deliveries to keep the scoring rate soaring.
Jurel was eventually dismissed in the 14th over after a fluent 50 off 21 balls, with RR well placed at 192/3.
Parag’s departure in the 16th over triggered a strong response from SRH, who clawed their way back into the contest by tightening the screws in the death overs.
The bowling unit conceded only 10 runs across the final two overs to stem the flow of runs, although the Royals had already posted a daunting total on the board.
Rajasthan Royals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2026 Eliminator, brief scores: RR 243/8 in 20 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 97; Praful Hinge 3/54) beat SRH 196/10 in 19.2 overs (Nitish Kumar Reddy 38; Jofra Archer 3/58) by 47 runs.
