Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Jofra Archer produced their best performances of IPL 2026 on Wednesday (May 27) to help Rajasthan Royals crush Sunrisers Hyderabad by 47 runs and book a place in Qualifier 2 of IPL 2026. In the Eliminator of the ongoing season, SRH skipper Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bowl first at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh. However, his decision backfired as Vaibhav made a mockery of SRH’s bowling attack by smashing 97 runs off just 29 balls.
IPL 2026 | Schedule | Results | Orange Cap | Purple Cap
He added 125 runs in only 48 balls for the first wicket with Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored 29 off 29 deliveries. Vaibhav hammered 5 fours and 12 sixes during his stay at the crease
to help RR post a massive total of 243/8. In the process, he also broke numerous batting records, including Chris Gayle’s world record for the most sixes in a T20 tournament and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s record for the most runs in an IPL season by an uncapped player.
Vaibhav’s 97-run knock in the first knockout match of IPL 2026 helped him take his tally to 680 runs, and he now leads the Orange Cap race. He has scored 28 more runs than Gujarat Titans opener B Sai Sudharsan.
In the list of batters with the most runs in IPL 2026, Vaibhav and Sudharsan are followed by Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Heinrich Klaasen. Klaasen, who is the only middle-order batter (No. 4 or below) to score more than 600 runs in a T20 tournament, has amassed 624 runs in this year’s IPL.
GT skipper Shubman Gill is in fourth place with 618 runs, while SRH’s Ishan Kishan occupies the fifth spot. Kishan, who smashed 33 runs off just 11 balls, including 3 fours and 3 sixes, has accumulated 604 runs in IPL 2026.
Orange Cap in IPL 2026 | Top Run-scorers
| POSITION | PLAYER | TEAM | MATCHES | RUNS | STRIKE RATE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | Rajasthan Royals | 15 | 680 | 242.85 |
| 2. | Sai Sudharsan | Gujarat Titans | 15 | 652 | 157.86 |
| 3. | Heinrich Klaasen | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 15 | 624 | 160.00 |
| 4. | Shubman Gill | Gujarat Titans | 15 | 618 | 159.27 |
| 5. | Ishan Kishan | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 15 | 602 | 182.42 |
| 6. | Virat Kohli | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 15 | 600 | 164.38 |
| 7. | KL Rahul | Delhi Capitals | 14 | 593 | 174.41 |
| 8. | Abhishek Sharma | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 15 | 563 | 204.72 |
| 9. | Mitchell Marsh | Lucknow Super Giants | 13 | 563 | 163.18 |
| 10. | Prabhsimran Singh | Punjab Kings | 14 | 510 | 168.87 |
After Vaibhav helped RR post a massive total, Jofra Archer led the charge with the ball and picked up one wicket in each of his first three overs. He opened his account by getting Abhishek Sharma caught behind for a two-ball duck on the second ball of the 244-run chase and then dismissed Ishan Kishan on the fifth ball of the third over. His third wicket came in the form of Travis Head on the fourth ball of the fifth over.
The three-wicket haul against Sunrisers helped Archer extend his tally to 24 wickets in IPL 2026, although he remains third in the Purple Cap race. However, he has now reduced the gap between himself and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kagiso Rabada to just two wickets.
Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer Eshan Malinga, who dismissed Dasun Shanaka, is in fifth place with 20 wickets in 15 matches.
Purple Cap in IPL 2026 | Top Wicket-takers
| POSITION | PLAYER | TEAM | MATCHES | WICKETS | ECONOMY RATE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 15 | 26 | 8.00 |
| 2. | Kagiso Rabada | Gujarat Titans | 15 | 26 | 9.48 |
| 3. | Jofra Archer | Rajasthan Royals | 15 | 24 | 9.05 |
| 4. | Anshul Kamboj | Chennai Super Kings | 14 | 21 | 10.52 |
| 5. | Eshan Malinga | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 15 | 20 | 9.33 |
| 6. | Rashid Khan | Gujarat Titans | 15 | 19 | 8.77 |
| 7. | Kartik Tyagi | Kolkata Knight Riders | 14 | 18 | 9.76 |
| 8. | Mohammed Siraj | Gujarat Titans | 15 | 17 | 8.96 |
| 9. | Prince Yadav | Lucknow Super Giants | 14 | 16 | 8.82 |
| 10. | Rasikh Salam Dar | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 11 | 16 | 9.73 |
On Friday (May 29), Rajasthan Royals will face Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier 2 of IPL 2026. That knockout match is also scheduled to take place in New Chandigarh, and the winner of it will face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the final of IPL 2026 on Sunday (May 31) at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
