Vaibhav Sooryavanshi unleashes mayhem as RR beat SRH to storm into IPL 2026 Qualifier 2

Rajasthan Royals stormed into Qualifier 2 of IPL 2026 after beating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 47 runs in the Eliminator on Wednesday. The night belonged to 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, whose 97 off just 29 balls put RR in complete control of the contest. Chasing a place in Qualifier 2, Rajasthan Royals first piled up 243 for eight after Sooryavanshi tore apart SRH’s bowling attack in one of the most devastating knocks of the season. The youngster smashed 12 sixes and came close to Chris Gayle’s record for the fastest IPL hundred. Gayle reached his century in 30 balls while Sooryavanshi fell to 97 after facing only 29 deliveries. The left-hander attacked from the start and left Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins scrambling for answers. Anything full disappeared straight down the ground while short balls were cut and pulled into the stands. Sooryavanshi reached his fifty in just 16 balls, with eight of those deliveries going for sixes. His opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal looked mostly from the other end and scored 29 off 29 balls. By the time Sooryavanshi was dismissed by Praful Hing in the eighth over, Rajasthan Royals had already reached 125 in just eight overs. The teenager also broke Chris Gayle’s record of sixes in a single IPL season. He now has 65 sixes this season, surpassing Gayle’s tally of 59. Dhruv Jurel then took the innings forward with a quick 50 off 21 balls, his sixth half-century of the season. Rajasthan Royals looked set for an even bigger total of 180 for two in 13 overs, but Sunrisers Hyderabad fought back in the dying overs. SRH took five wickets for 36 runs in the last five overs to stop RR from crossing the 260-run mark. However, the damage has already been done. Pat Cummins finished with expensive figures of 0 for 64 in four overs. Sakib Hussain gave away 49 runs in three overs while Praful Hinge took three wickets but conceded 54 runs. Eshan Malinga also struggled while wristwatch Shivang Kumar impressed to take the wicket of Jaiswal. Sunrisers Hyderabad never really recovered after losing wickets in the power play. Jofra Archer struck key blows in the powerplay, removing Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Travis Head. Archer’s final figures were 4-0-58-3. Although he ran out of runs later in the innings, his wickets of SRH’s biggest match winners proved to be decisive. Ishan Kishan scored 33 while Nitish Kumar Reddy scored 38 to keep SRH in the chase briefly. Salil Arora added 35 but wickets fell at regular intervals. Heinrich Klaasen also failed to make an impact and was trapped lbw by Yash Raj Punja while attempting an attacking shot. The lower-middle order tried to counter-attack but the target proved too big. Sunrisers Hyderabad were eventually bowled out for 196 in 19.2 overs. Rajasthan Royals will now take on Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 on Friday for a place in the IPL 2026 final.