New Chandigarh is ready for a mouth-watering IPL 2026 Eliminator, with Sunrisers Hyderabad set to face Rajasthan Royals. As the knockout weekend builds, one youngster has become the central talking point—Vaibhav Sooryavanshi—and SRH captain Pat Cummins says the team is preparing more than one route to counter him.
Quick facts
- Match: IPL 2026 Eliminator — Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals
- Venue: New Chandigarh
- Key focus: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s impact for Rajasthan Royals
- Sooryavanshi’s IPL 2026 record: 583 runs in 14 innings, strike rate 232.27
- How SRH have faced him this season: dismissed for a golden duck once; later scored a century vs Hyderabad
- SRH outcome in league meetings: won both encounters against Rajasthan
- SRH captain Pat Cummins: says they will work on multiple bowling plans (Plan B / Plan C) for Sooryavanshi
Cummins admitted that preparing for a high-pressure match is never just about sticking to a single bowling pattern. In his view, captains and bowlers constantly weigh their strengths against the threats in the opposition—especially when a couple of players in a side can swing momentum on their own.
Sooryavanshi, a 15-year-old opener, has been reshaping what “fearless” looks like in the IPL 2026 league phase. His run-scoring spree has turned him into one of the season’s breakout names, with the numbers doing most of the talking—583 runs across 14 innings and a strike rate of 232.27, a pace that has left opponents scrambling for answers.
The matchup also carries a personal storyline for SRH. Vaibhav has already played Hyderabad twice in this season’s IPL, and the results show how quickly his form can change the conversation. In the first meeting, he went cheaply, dismissed for a golden duck, before bouncing back in the return fixture with a sensational century against SRH.
Despite SRH winning both league-stage games against Rajasthan, Cummins believes the Eliminator presents a fresh challenge. He pointed out that even when Rajasthan’s young star was “quiet” at times, there were also moments when Sooryavanshi managed to slip the net and take control.
In comments shared during the build-up with JioStar, Cummins explained how SRH intend to balance their approach. He said bowlers must understand what they do best and plan their deliveries accordingly, but with players capable of turning the game, teams often need extra layers of preparation—what he described as working on a Plan B or Plan C.
“So, yeah, we’ll plan for him,” Cummins said, reflecting on the previous century. He added that although the hundred came in the earlier clash, SRH felt there were phases where they executed well and kept Sooryavanshi under control, while at other times he found ways to break the plan.
Cummins then addressed whether twice beating Rajasthan Royals earlier in the tournament would matter in the Eliminator. He stressed that knockout cricket resets the scoreboard in practical terms, but the team can still carry learnings from previous meetings.
He noted that SRH and Rajasthan have played each other twice, giving both sides a clearer look at many of the key players. Cummins said that some of SRH’s own players can refer back to those earlier successes and use the confidence from them as they head into the final stretch of the competition.
In the end, the SRH captain framed it simply: it’s always a positive to meet a side against whom you’ve previously had success—while still respecting that the Eliminator is a new contest where plans and execution will decide the outcome.
