The two sides have met each other in the playoffs on two occasions; once in 2013 and the other time in 2024
In the upcoming IPL Eliminator, third-placed
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and fourth-placed Rajasthan Royals (RR) are up against each other for a thrilling knockout contest. Whoever loses the game will be eliminated from the tournament, whereas the winner will head for the second round of Qualifier II. The two sides have met 23 times so far, but Hyderabad holds a slight edge with 14 victories over the Royals.
The two sides have also met twice in the playoffs: once in 2013 and once in 2024. Ahead of the Eliminator, let us revisit those two games and their results.
Eliminator, 2013
Despite being a debutant in 2013, Hyderabad reached the playoffs, in the Eliminator, the team, led by captain Cameron White, failed to deal with the Royals' dominant bowling line-up.
On this day 13 years ago.
— (Raina ka privar) 🌶️ (@MRIPL48) May 22, 2026
Ipl 2013 : RR vs SRH.
Brad Hodge 54 runs form 29 balls with Srh team in the eliminator match.
RR won by 4 wickets. pic.twitter.com/SDjgfe9oVf
Batting first, only three batters from SRH, i.e., Shikhar Dhawan, White and Daren Sammy, put around 30 runs on the board but with poor strike rates. A slog-fest at the willow meant SRH could only post 132 runs, making it tough for their bowlers to defend the score.
SRH and RR have met in the IPL playoffs once back in 2013.
— Sportstar (@sportstarweb) May 24, 2024
Royals triumphed in a thrilling 'Eliminator' courtesy of Brad Hodge's heroics with the bat.
Do you know the only player from that meeting who will play today? 🤔
Details ➡️ https://t.co/F7o1IEzQ3P | #IPL2024 #SRHvsRR pic.twitter.com/UTeYePN2gk
Surprisingly, the SRH bowling line-up managed to reduce the Royals to 5 for 57. The Royals were saved by a late surge from Brad Hodge at the lower end, who scored 54 runs off 29 deliveries.
Rajasthan survived the Eliminator by four wickets.
Qualifier II, 2024
Two years ago, the team had its second-ever playoff clash, facing each other in Qualifier II. In the first innings, even though the majority of SRH batters failed, the helm was led by Travis Head, Rahul Tripathi, and Heinrich Klaasen, who helped the team post a decent total of 175 runs.
🚨 AXAR PATEL PRAISES SRH 🚨 🗣️🧡
“I think SRH. When their top three score runs, that team becomes very difficult to stop.” 🔥🏏
Axar Patel rates SRH as a dangerous side ahead of the IPL 2026 playoffs. 👀#AxarPatel #SRH #IPL2026 #IPL #SunrisersHyderabad #Cricket pic.twitter.com/TC6c4TXjHb— Akaran.A (@Akaran_1) May 26, 2026
Hyderabad maintained their momentum in the second innings, with Shahbaz Ahmed taking three wickets and Abhishek Sharma surprising the IPL fraternity with two crucial scalps. Pat Cummins and T Natarajan also made significant contributions to wrap up the Royals’ innings at 139 runs.
Eliminator, 2026
On Wednesday evening, while the Royals hope to recreate the theatrics of 2013, Hyderabad will try to avoid the embarrassment it faced then.
Predicted Playing XIs
RR: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Donovan Ferreira, Shubham Dubey, Dasun Shanaka, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Yash Raj Punja, Brijesh Sharma.
SRH: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (c), Harshal Patel, Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain.
