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It’s going to be Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s first-ever Playoff appearance when Rajasthan Royals (RR) take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL 2026 Eliminator in New Chandigarh on Wednesday. The teenage batting sensation has earned unending praise for his batting flair this season, scoring 583 runs at a staggering strike rate of 232.37. Since the beginning of the season, he has been vocal about winning the trophy for his team, and the same thought would cross through his mind when he walks out against the Orange Army.
Sooryavanshi has endured a mixed run against SRH this season. He was dismissed for a golden duck in their first meeting but made a strong comeback in the reverse fixture, producing a stunning century against the Pat Cummins-led side.
While SRH emerged victorious in both league-stage clashes, Sooryavanshi’s current form positions him as a key danger heading into the Eliminator. The SRH skipper acknowledged the challenge while speaking to JioStar.
“It’s always a balance of, as a bowler, understanding what you do well and how you’re going to bowl to your strengths. But when there are probably one or two players in every lineup who can take the game away from the opposition, you do spend a little bit longer working on a Plan B or Plan C,” Cummins said.
“So, yeah, we’ll plan for him. Even though he got a hundred against us last time, I thought there were times when we actually bowled quite well to him and kept him quiet. At other times, he got away from us. So, we’ll learn from that,” he added.
Pat Cummins also spoke about whether beating the Rajasthan Royals twice would hold any relevance.
“You’re obviously starting from scratch again, but you do take learnings from previous games. We’ve played them twice. We’ve had a good look at a lot of their players. A lot of our guys can look back at those games where they’ve had success and lean on that heading into the finals. So, it’s always nice coming up against a team that you’ve had some success against,” Cummins concluded.
