Vaibhav Sooryavanshi stood tall when it mattered and tore apart the bowling of SRH in the power play overs. He came, saw and conquered and has left everyone stunned with his approach. SRH put RR into bat first and thanks to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi‘s superlative innings and cameos from the other batters, the Orange Army were bruised and battered as 243/8 was put on the board. The RR team came back well, but this was a huge task.
In reply, Jofra Archer picked up 3 wickets while the others like Ravindra Jadeja, Nandre Burger, and Mishra to keep an eye on proceedings by picking 2 wickets. SRH played well in patches and were bowled out for 196 on Wednesday with a few 30s scored by Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora helped the score get more runs. In the end, 196 is all that was achieved.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s belligerent 97 powers RR to 243/8 in 20 overs
Put into bat first, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi came out to open the batting for RR while captain Pat Cummins had the ball in hand for SRH. Jaiswal started slowly, but it was the Vaibhav Sooryavanshi show from the very first over. He took time maybe for the first 2-3 balls but then looked unstoppable. It was the 15-year-old teenage sensation creating havoc and tore anyone who came his way.
Jaiswal added his touch here and there but he was overshadowed by Vaibhav as he completed his half-century and smashed 8 sixes in 4 overs. He was in the mood as 80 runs were scored in the first power play of 6 overs for 0 wickets. Jaiswal held one end up. Soon, the duo put up a century run stand where Vaibhav dominated the proceedings.
The duo put on 125 runs for the first wicket inside 8 overs. Vaibhav was on the cusp of scoring the fastest hundred by a player in IPL history. But on 97, he was holed out in the deep. The 125-run stand was broken as Vaibhav fell for 97 off 29 balls with 5 fours and 12 sixes to his name to Praful Hinge. Dhruv Jurel the keeper batter came out to bat next.
Jaiswal was going at more than run a ball and slowed down towards the end. Jaiswal and Jurel added 12 runs for the second wicket before Jaiswal fell for 29 off 29 balls with 4 fours to his name to Shivang Kumar. Captain Riyan Parag came out to bat next. Jurel and Parag forged a partnership to take the innings forward. Parag and Jurel batted well and took the attack to the opposition. Jurel completed his half-century in 20 balls. The duo of Parag and Jurel was worth 55 runs for the 3rd wicket before Jurel fell for 50 off 21 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes to his name.
Donovan Ferreira came out to bat next. Parag and Ferreira recently tried to forge some sort of partnership. The duo could muster 15 runs for the 4th wicket before Parag the captain fell for 26 off 12 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes to his name to Hinge. Dasun Shanaka came out to bat next. Just 7 runs were added between Ferreira and Shanaka added just 7 runs to the tally before Shanaka fell for 5 off 3 balls with one four to his name to Eshan Malinga. Ravindra Jadeja came out to bat next.
Ferreira and Jadeja tried to forge some sort of partnership to make this game interesting. The duo added exactly 20 runs for the 6th wicket before Ferreira departed for 12 off 9 balls with one four to his name courtesy a run out. Jofra Archer came out to bat next. Just 4 runs were added to the score when Archer fell for 4 off 5 balls with one four to his name to Nitish Kumar Reddy. Nandre Burger came out to bat next. There was no dew at this stage. Just 4 runs were added to the score before Archer fell for 4 off 5 balls with one four to his name to Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Impact Player Sushant Mishra came towards the end to score only 1 off 3 balls unbeaten. Nandre Burger came out to bat next. He too did not last long as Burger was run out for 1 off 1 ball. Impact Player Sushant managed to stay unbeaten towards the end. No more wickets fell towards the backend of the innings. Sushant Mishra the impact player of SRH got dismissed for 1 off 3 balls. 6 extras given by the fielding side. Jadeja remained unbeaten on 12 off 9 balls with one four to his name while Mishra remained unbeaten on 1 off 3 balls as RR finished with 243/8 in 20 overs. Just 6 extras given by the fielding side.
It was a mixed back bowling performance by RR but it came back well in the ground. Praful Hinge finished with 3/54 in 4 overs. Eshan Malinga finished with 1/40 in 4 overs. Shivang Kumar finished with 1/19 in 2 overs. Nitish Kumar Reddy finished with 1/12 in 2 overs. Sakib Hussain finished with 0/52 in 4 overs. Pat Cummins finished with 0/64 in 4 overs. This meant that SRH needed a challenging 244 runs to win off 20 overs.
Jofra Archer’s 3-wicket haul helps RR advance to the next stage of playoffs
Chasing a massive 244 for the win, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head came out to bat for SRH while Jofra Archer had the ball in hand for RR. RR and Archer got off to the perfect start as he removed Jaiswal second ball for a silver duck. Ishan Kishan came out to bat next. Ishan came out all guns blazing as he attacked Archer in the same over. Travis Head too got off to a flier. The duo just tore the bowling apart and put the bad balls away as 50 was achieved in the 3rd over. The duo put on 51 runs for the second wicket before Kishan fell for 33 off 11 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes to his name to Archer.
Smaran Ravichandran came out to bat next. Ravichandran added just one run with Head before he fell for 1 off 4 balls to Nandre Burger. Heinrich Klaasen came out to bat next. Klaasen started on the front foot and looked fluent out there. Travis and Klaasen put on just 5 runs for the 4th wicket before Head fell for 17 off 8 balls with 2 fours and one six to his name as he was cleaned up by Archer. Nitish Kumar Reddy came out to bat next.
At the end of the power play, SRH were 71/4 in 6 overs. The duo of Klaasen and Reddy tried to forge a partnership and added 14 runs for the 5th wicket before Klaasen fell for 18 off 10 balls with 2 fours and one six to his name to Panja. Impact Player Salil Arora came out to bat next.
Reddy and Arora counter-attacked against the RR bowling to create some fight in the contest. Reddy was the aggressor while Salil complemented him well. The duo added 56 runs for the 6th wicket before Nitish fell for 38 off 20 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes to his name to Ravindra Jadeja. Pat Cummins the captain came to the crease next. Just 2 runs were added to the score before Cummins fell for 1 off 2 balls to Mishra. Shivang Kumar came out to bat next.
Salil tried to be the aggressor, but he was losing all his partners. Kumar too showed resistance. The duo added another quick 24 runs for the 8th wicket before Salil the impact player fell for 35 off 21 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes to his name to Ravindra Jadeja. The end was near as Eshan Malinga came out to bat next. Shivang used the long handle and added another important stand. The duo added 24 runs for the 9th wicket before Malinga fell for 5 off 8 balls to Burger.
Sakib Hussain came out to bat next. The last wicket pair put on 9 runs for the final wicket before Shivang was the last man out for 27 off 24 balls with 3 fours to his name to Mishra. Sakib Hussain remained unbeaten on 5 off 7 balls with one four to his name. SRH were eventually bowled out for 196 in 19.2 overs. 16 extras given by the fielding side including 15 wides.
For RR’s point of view with the ball, Jofra Archer was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/58 in 4 overs. Nandre Burger chipped in with 2/26 in 3 overs. Impact Player Mishra finished with 2/21 in 2.2 overs. Ravindra Jadeja finished with 2/21 in 2.2 overs. Yash Raj Punja finished with 1/39 in 4 overs. So, RR upstage SRH by 45 runs to advance to Qualifier 2. The loser goes home. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was awarded the Player of the Match award.
What Lies Ahead
So, RR move to Qualifier 2 while SRH bows out of the tournament. So, Qualifier 2 is set in New Chandigarh on Friday night as GT takes on RR for a place in the finals on Sunday night. RCB are already there. So, we are set for the last two matches of IPL 2026. SRH are done and dusted. An Indian captain will lift the trophy.
Let’s see how these matches turn out in the coming days.
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