RR opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had scored his second IPL century against Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier in the 2026 season.
Published: May 27, 2026, 5:34 PM IST
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Rajasthan Royals opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. (Photo: IANS)
SRH vs RR IPL 2026: Sunrisers Hyderabad got a taste of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s explosive capabilities when then 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals opener smashed his second IPL ton earlier in the 2026 season in Jaipur off only 36 balls. Although SRH when on to win that contest on the night, but skipper Pat Cummins will be well aware of the Sooryavanshi threat ahead of IPL 2026 Eliminator match vs RR at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh, on Wednesday.
Sooryavanshi is the leading run-getter for RR in IPL 2026 with 583 runs at an incredible strike-rate of 232.2 with 1 century and 3 fifties to his name. He is already the first-ever Indian batter to smash 50 sixes in a single season of IPL and already has 53 maximums to his name.
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Australia and SRH captain Cummins though issued a major warning to Sooryavanshi ahead of the IPL 2026 Eliminator. Speaking to JioStar, Cummins said, “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.
“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,” the Aussie pacer added.
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Sooryavanshi has been specially explosive against pace bowlers in the IPL 2026 season with 42 out of his 53 sixes coming against the fast bowlers. He has scored 478 runs against the fast bowlers this year at a strike-rate of 235.56 while his strike-rate against the spinners drops to 218.75.
SRH captain Pat Cummins touched upon handling the pressure of the playoffs and needing to win three games to win the IPL 2026. Sunrisers Hyderabad had achieved this feat on their way to winning the title in IPL 2016 under the captaincy of David Warner.
“I think you want to keep a lot of things similar to what got you into the finals. But there’s also a bit more pressure, a few more nerves, so you want to acknowledge that. I always like to think, ‘How are you going to look back on that game with no regrets?’ So, that’s always kind of my mentality going into a final. Instead of being more conservative, try and be even more aggressive. We have got to win three in a row to win it.
“We’ve won more than that throughout the season. We won five in a row at one stage, so it’s possible. These are teams that we know quite well. So, yeah, it’s not going to be easy, but I feel like we can do it,” Cummins said.
On whether beating RR twice in league phase would hold any relevance heading into the Eliminator, Cummins said, “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.”
Heinrich Klaasen has enjoyed a Golden run for SRH in IPL 2026 with 606 runs in 14 matches and is currently in third place in the Orange Cap race. On Klassen’s record-breaking season, Cummins said, “He’s a very, very good player. Always has been, and he’s just gone to another level this year. Some of his knocks, in Chennai on a really difficult wicket, and even the last game against RCB, have been incredible. It’s amazing how he can step in and change the tempo of a game. So, we feel very lucky that he’s in our middle order. Yeah, he’s been a big reason for our success, so hopefully it’s the same in the finals. He’s been awesome.”
