Vaibhav Sooryanashi’s Rajasthan Royals are facing some major injury issues ahead of their IPL 2026 Eliminator match vs Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Published: May 25, 2026 1:40 PM IST
SRH vs RR IPL 2026 Eliminator: Inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royals have managed to squeeze into the Playoffs thanks to their 30-run win over Mumbai Indians in match no. 69 of IPL 2026 season at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. They will now take on third-placed finisher Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 Eliminator match at New PCA Stadium at Mullanpur, New Chandigarh, on Wednesday for the right to play in Qualifier 2.
But there are plenty of big issues that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s RR need to deal with in spite of their impressive win over MI in the last game. The biggest issue for the Royals is fitness of their skipper Riyan Parag, who has been managing a hamstring injury through the season.
Parag was out to lead RR in the critical clash against MI on Sunday, in spite of admitting that he was not ‘100 per cent fit’ to lead the side. “Yeah, I’m definitely not fit… I was not supposed to play today, I’m not supposed to play another game (in this season),” Parag said in the post-match presentation after the win over MI.
Asked he would be able to lead RR in Eliminator match on Wednesday, Parag said, “Yeah, of course.”
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Parag, who was retained for Rs 14 crore ahead of IPL 2026 by Rajasthan Royals, have endured a modest season with the bat in IPL 2026 scoring only 272 runs in 12 matches with 2 fifties at a strike-rate of 152.8. The RR captain also revealed that star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is dealing with some niggles and as a result he played as an ‘Impact Player’ in IPL 2026 match vs MI.
“Jofra’s fine, he’s strong as a rock. Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) bhai has some niggles here and there. But again, he’s got the sword, he’s a warrior, he’ll be back. We should’ve qualified way earlier. Left it a little too late and left a lot on the table. We’re picking up the slack three games in a row. Hopefully we learn from all our mistakes and put up a better show,” Parag said.
The Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara opened up about Ravindra Jadeja’s injury issues after the match. “He has been nursing an injury and we’ve had to manage him quite sensitively. For him to go out and bat for long periods of time, it puts a lot of pressure on him, a lot of stress on him,” Sangakkara said.
“So until he gets maybe another two days of rest, then we can use him even better (but) because he batted today, he was exceptional again,” the former Sri Lanka captain added.
Jadeja was traded from Chennai Super Kings to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 14 crore ahead of the IPL 2026 season.
