IPL Game of the Day: Rajasthan give, Royals take

In the early days of the Indian Premier League 2026, with SunRisers Hyderabad struggling for form, it was a low-key game against Rajasthan Royals that gave them important confidence.

Riyan Parag’s Rajasthan, fresh from a change of management this year, were on fire as they won four back-to-back matches in the tournament. When the Men in Pink traveled to Hyderabad, the match was expected to be a mere formality. Rajasthan were expected to flex their batting muscles given how bad SRH had been till then.

SRH vs RR: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD

However, the scenario didn’t quite go according to plan. India’s two uncapped bowlers, Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain, tore through the RR batting line-up, bagging four wickets each to start a new bowling revolution.

This match gave SRH the confidence to field high-paid Jayadev Unadkat and Harshal Patel for the rest of the season and instead bank on two young stars to deliver the goods for the rest of their campaign.

Later in the season, SRH met Rajasthan again, this time in Jaipur, and the contest was a bit more even. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi took on Praful Hing, the hero of the previous match, and bowled him for four sixes in the very first over. Vaibhav would score a hundred in this gameonly to be trumped in the chase later by Ishan Kishan.

These two games have been the bedrock of SRH’s season this year and have shown how destructive their Indian batting and bowling core can be.

RAJASTHAN TURN THE TIDE

When SRH met Rajasthan for the third time in the tournament, they went into the game with a stunning 6-0 record. Since 2024, RR have not beaten SRH in a single match.

However, that all flew out the window when 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is determined that Rajasthan will not lose another match against SRH on his watch.

On Wednesday, Sooryavanshi hammered the SRH batsmen and scored 97 runs in just 29 balls. En route to those 97 runs, he broke Chris Gayle’s record for most sixes in a single IPL season and David Warner’s record for most runs scored in the powerplay. Fifteen-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made it a long night for the SRH players on Wednesday. (Photo by Reuters)

It’s not like SRH have forgotten what Sooryavanshi was able to do. It’s not like they don’t have plans against the batter. Pat Cummins handled the ball on the power play, something he rarely did this season. Cummins bowled a couple of yorkers and tried to get under Vaibhav’s batswing, a move that seemed to work, at least briefly.

THE BALL THAT BROKE THE SRH

After failing to dismiss Sooryavanshi in the first five balls of the over, Cummins took a risk. He went around the wicket and hurled a racket at a speed of 140 km/h to the top of the stump. The delivery was brilliant and would have hit the stumps had it been left alone.

But it didn’t just stay that way. In fact, it didn’t resist at all.

Vaibhav decided to go full with his bat and hit Cummins so hard that the ball flew over the bowler’s head. At that moment, the floodgates suddenly opened. From there, Sooryavanshi went on a big hitting spree and whatever SRH tried from then on, short balls, slower deliveries, cutters, absolutely nothing worked.

SRH may have missed a trick in not bowling Nitish Reddy in the over, or introducing spin earlier in the attack. But in the mood that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was in, no one would be spared in the night.

The wicket eventually came, painfully so, when Vaibhav sent a short ball from Praful Hinge to third man. Vaibhav froze at the crease as the catch was completed, cursing himself for not completing the century that was deservedly his. It was a century that could have made him the fastest hundred maker in IPL history.

But it is what it is. Vaibhav smiled wryly as he collected the man of the match award at the end of the game and later stated that he should not have looked at the fielder standing at third man just before the wicket. Spotting the fielder, he ended up telegraphing his shot towards the region, ending what could have been one of the most significant centuries in Indian Premier League history.

ARCHER WREKS SRH

Vaibhav’s innings was not over for SRH. When SRH came into bat, they fell apart against the only fielding weapon Rajasthan had, Jofra Archer.

The English fast bowler was taken to the cleaners by the SRH batsmen as they had no option but to attack on the night. Archer conceded 58 runs but in return got the wickets of Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Travis Head, the three most dangerous batting line-ups of the tournament.

All three were beaten for pace on a pitch that was flatter than Indian highways. On such a surface, Archer realized that all he had was his attitude and the ability to hit the deck as hard as possible. Struggling for three wickets from SRH, Pat Cummins’ side waited for a slow and painful death that ended up lasting 19.2 overs.

The pain was so great that Cummins could do nothing but smile during the post-match presentation.

“He bowled pretty well. Yeah, just don’t feel like you’ve got too many options. Obviously it’s a really good pitch but the margins are so small. If you’re a bit short of a yorker, he doesn’t tend to miss them. So yeah, fair play,” was all Cummins could muster about man-of-the-match Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

A side that was once bullied and chased by the SunRisers rose from the ashes to beat Hyderabad at their own game.

During the league stage, Rajasthan had a gift. And they take the Royals away in the playoffs.

– The end

Issued by:

Debodinna Chakraborty

Published on:

28 May 2026 07:33 IST