Sooryavanshi at Jaipur for the first time as RR look to break a five-match losing run against Sunrisers
Sawai Mansingh under lights, a 15-year-old at the top of the order who is striking at 220, and an opponent that has not lost to him or to Rajasthan Royals in nearly three years of fixtures. There are easier ways to break a streak.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has not actually played a home game yet. The Royals' fixture list this season has had them on the road, on the road again, and home twice on a Tuesday in cities that are not Jaipur. Saturday's match against Sunrisers Hyderabad is, properly, his first night at the franchise's home ground. The Royals say they are saving the celebration. The match itself does not look like it is going to be saved for anyone.
SRH have a five-game streak to defend
Take Saturday's matchup at face value and Sunrisers Hyderabad walk in clear favourites. They beat Rajasthan Royals by 57 runs at Hyderabad on April 13, the Royals' first defeat of the campaign, and Pat Cummins is back in the country for this one. The Test and ODI Australia captain has been out with a back injury since the start of the tournament, with Ishan Kishan deputising as captain. SRH have a 5-0 winning streak over RR going back to 2023. Five games is a stretch in any IPL fixture; against a side as well-rested as the Royals normally are, it is more than coincidence.
Heinrich Klaasen has been the difference-maker. 320 runs in seven games, much of it in the kind of middle-overs role that tends to win T20 games when the powerplay leaves a target up for grabs. He is not having his best IPL season; he is having one of the best IPL seasons by a No. 4 or No. 5 the tournament has seen.
Sooryavanshi, Pujara, and the powerplay
Cheteshwar Pujara, of all people, was on a panel this week saying he had never seen a 15-year-old bat the way Sooryavanshi was batting. 254 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 220.87. The youngest player to 500 IPL runs already, with games still to play. The numbers stop being numbers somewhere around the second six off a yorker.
What Saturday will test is whether Sooryavanshi has a plan against the lengths Cummins bowls. Cummins has not played a competitive game since the December Ashes Test he was pulled from after one match. He is not coming back to ease into things; the SRH team-sheet has him captain. If he opens the bowling, the powerplay battle is the headline of the night.
Where the Jaipur pitch helps
Sawai Mansingh in IPL 2025 had an average first-innings score of 198. It is one of the higher-scoring grounds in the tournament when the surface is fresh. The Royals have built their batting around being able to chase, with Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson having moved on and Riyan Parag now leading a younger top order. They will want to bowl first if the toss allows.
SRH come in fourth on eight points. RR are third on ten. A win for either side closes a gap somewhere; a Sunrisers win pushes them up to within touching distance of the top. This is not yet a knockout, but the season is starting to thin out. Five games a side is the rough cut-off for the playoff race. Saturday will be the first one in Jaipur, and it could be one of the louder.
Cricket Updates
