Pat Cummins said his bowlers have learned from the mistakes they made during their previous face-off with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi during the league phase, when the southpaw scored a breathtaking century. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) lock horns in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Eliminator at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on Wednesday, May 27.
Sunrisers faced the Royals twice this season and won both games. Sooryavanshi, however, had
mixed results. In Hyderabad, he was dismissed for a golden duck. However, in the subsequent meeting in Jaipur, he slammed 103 off 37 balls.
“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 while speaking to JioHotstar ahead of the crucial tie.
“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.
Sooryavanshi has had a terrific season, amassing 583 runs at an average of 41.64 and a strike rate of 232.28. He has played with great intent from the word go, but still managed to maintain a healthy average. The 15-year-old has belted one century and three fifties in the campaign so far. He has hit 50 fours and 53 sixes. Sooryavanshi could regain the Orange Cap on Wednesday, which Sai Sudharsan is currently holding with 652 runs from 14 innings.
His battle with SRH seamers Pat Cummins and Eshan Malinga could be defining in the Eliminator. The latter has been the star performer for SRH with the ball this season, having bagged 19 wickets in 14 matches.
