Two Rajasthan Royals (RR) performers surged through the Eliminator of IPL 2026 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), shaking up both the Orange Cap and Purple Cap race as their side booked a place in Qualifier 2.
Key takeaways
- RR’s Eliminator win over SRH propelled the team into Qualifier 2.
- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s 12 sixes helped him reach the top of the Orange Cap standings with 680 runs.
- Sooryavanshi was on course for the quickest IPL century at 30 balls before ending on 97 off 29 deliveries.
- Jofra Archer’s wicket haul in the last two RR matches continued to shape the Purple Cap conversation, taking him to 24 wickets overall.
- Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma finished SRH’s batting output at third, fifth and eighth in the run charts.
Orange Cap leaderboard
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi put on a huge hitting display on Wednesday, striking 12 sixes to surpass Chris Gayle’s record for the most maximums in a single IPL campaign. He was also progressing toward the fastest century in IPL history—an achievement currently associated with Gayle—before his innings ended at 97. Sooryavanshi was dismissed on the 29th ball of his knock.
With that form already helping him at the summit of the run-getters list at IPL 2026, Sooryavanshi has moved to 680 runs at the top of the Orange Cap standings, extending his advantage to 28 runs over Gujarat Titans (GT) batter B Sai Sudharsan, who sits second with 652.
There is still plenty to play for at the top of the batting charts. Sudharsan, along with third-placed Shubman Gill of GT, both have at least one match remaining, as does Virat Kohli of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), who is placed sixth with 600 runs.
For RR, Dhruv Jurel made a major impact against SRH as well, scoring 50 runs from just 21 balls. That knock took him to 508 runs for the season, placing him 11th in the Orange Cap table.
SRH’s leading batters concluded their campaign in the following positions on the run list: Heinrich Klaasen finished with 624 runs in third place, Ishan Kishan ended on 602 runs in fifth, and Abhishek Sharma closed on 563 runs in eighth.
Purple Cap leaderboard
Jofra Archer’s season has carried moments where he looked less like the bowler fans know best, but when he has been at his sharpest, his impact has been undeniable. That was evident in RR’s most recent two matches—both of which were must-wins to stay alive in the tournament. Against Mumbai Indians (MI), Archer returned figures of 3 for 17. Then versus SRH, he followed up with 3 for 58.
Those totals may not appear flattering at first glance, but the context matters: the three wickets he took were of the SRH batting “big three,” and all were removed during the powerplay. Given that, the cost is easier to accept.
Archer now stands at 24 wickets for the season. Ahead of him in the Purple Cap standings are two bowlers who still have the opportunity to extend their tallies further: Bhuvneshwar Kumar of RCB and Kagiso Rabada of GT, who are level on 26 wickets each.
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