IPL 2026, Eliminator: Can SRH extend dominance over RR?
What's the story
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Eliminator will see Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on May 27. SRH finished third in the points table with nine wins and five defeats from their 14 matches. RR, meanwhile, finished fourth with eight wins from 14 outings. Here we look at the match preview.
Match details
Pitch report and other details
The Mullanpur pitch is a balanced surface with a par score of 160-175 for first innings and 150-165 for chases. Pacers can expect early bounce and seam, while spinners will come into play as the pitch slows down. The weather in New Chandigarh will be hot and humid at around 34°C, with no rain expected. Meanwhile, the match will start at 7:30pm IST and will be telecasted on JioStar Network Channels with live streaming available on JioHotstar (App & Website).
SRH vs RR
Both teams own destructive batting line-ups
Batters have powered both these teams this season. RR will be counting on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's explosive batting at the top of the order. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel have also done well in the batting department. Meanwhile, Jofra Archer has been their best bowler this year. While the trio of Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Heinrich Klaasen has powered SRH's batting, Pat Cummins, Eshan Malinga, and Sakib Hussain have been their star bowlers.
Team line-ups
Here are the probable XIIs
RR Probable XII: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Shubham Dubey, Dasun Shanaka, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Yash Raj Punja, Brijesh Sharma. SRH Probable XII: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora (wk), Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (c), Harshal Patel, Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain.
H2H
RR vs SRH: Head-to-head record
Coming to their head-to-head record, SRH have won 14 out of 23 matches against RR, as per ESPNcricinfo. The remaining nine games have gone in RR's favor. The two teams have met twice this season, with SRH winning both encounters. In fact, the Orange Army has won each of its last five games against the Royals.
Performers
Here are the key performers
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi also owns the best strike rate for any batter this season (232.27). His tally reads 583 runs. RR's Jofra Archer made the new ball talk and ended the league stage with 21 wickets at a fine economy of 8.76. As many as three SRH batters have compiled over 550 runs this season—Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Heinrich Klaasen. All these batters struck at 155-plus. Sakib Hussain finished the league stage with 15 wickets from 10 games (ER: 9.07).
Poll
