Sunrisers face Rajasthan in IPL 2026 Eliminator at Mullanpur with head-to-head 2-0 in SRH's favour
The IPL 2026 playoffs cross into knockout territory at Mullanpur on Wednesday, 27 May. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals meet at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium at 7:30 PM IST, and the team that loses is out. The winner gets Qualifier 2 on Friday against whoever drops out of tonight's RCB versus Gujarat Titans match.
How SRH walked into the Eliminator
Hyderabad finished third on net run rate after closing the league phase with 255 for 4 at Uppal that beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 55 runs. Ishan Kishan top-scored with 79 off 46, Abhishek Sharma made 56 off 22, and Heinrich Klaasen added a 24-ball 51. Eshan Malinga, the season's leading SRH wicket-taker on 19 in 14 games, took 2 for 33 and never let RCB get the chase moving. Rajat Patidar's 56 off 39 and Venkatesh Iyer's 44 off 19 came too late to threaten the target.
That win locked SRH at third with the same form that has defined their league phase: a top three of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Kishan setting the tone inside six overs, then Klaasen and Nitish Reddy finishing the back end. Their powerplay against Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024 remains the highest in IPL history at 125 runs. Pat Cummins captains the side and bowls his own death overs.
Rajasthan got here on the back of two openers
Rajasthan came in differently. They needed Sunday's 30-run win over Mumbai Indians at Wankhede to lock up fourth place, and Jofra Archer's 32 off 15 with the bat and 3 for 17 with the ball made the difference on the night, with Dhruv Jurel's 38 anchoring the back end. Yashasvi Jaiswal contributed three fifties across nine appearances at a strike rate of 158.74 in a season cut short by injury, but the real driver was Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
The teenager finished the league phase with 583 runs at a strike rate above 232, with a century and three fifties to his name and 53 sixes, more than any Indian batter has hit in a single IPL. His best knock came at home against Wednesday's opponents: a 37-ball 103 against SRH that Rajasthan still managed to lose. He goes back into that same matchup with a chase-or-be-chased night on the line.
Mullanpur reads chasing, just
The Maharaja Yadavindra Singh stadium has hosted matches since it opened in 2024, with wins split fairly evenly between sides batting first and chasing. Dew comes in heavy in the evenings, which is part of why most captains who win the toss here have chosen to field. Punjab Kings posted 254 for 7 in their last home game and chased 265 for 4 against Delhi Capitals before that, so totals are climbing. The average first-innings score sits around 165-175.
That maths suits both teams. SRH have the powerplay to put 80-plus on the board inside six overs, and Rajasthan have the openers to do similar damage in reply. The Mullanpur surface settles for stroke-making after the new-ball overs, and the outfield is fast.
What decides Wednesday
The head-to-head is loaded toward SRH. They won both league fixtures against Rajasthan this year, even with Sooryavanshi's century coming in one of them. That margin came from depth: when Head went early in those games, Abhishek and Kishan kept the rate up, and the Klaasen-Reddy lower-middle order rarely had to bat under pressure.
Rajasthan need their bowling to do something it has not done in two prior tries this season, and that means Archer, Nandre Burger and Ravi Bishnoi finding a way to slow the SRH powerplay before Head and Abhishek decide the game inside six overs. If they can keep it under 60 for none in that window, the rest of the night is a contest. If they cannot, the Eliminator goes the way of the two league games.
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