Pat Cummins and Travis Head were left in the shade by 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi who guided Rajasthan Royals into the IPL decider
Pat Cummins and Travis Head were unable to set up an Aussie-tinged Indian Premier League final between their Sunrisers Hyderabad side and Josh Hazlewood’s Royal Challengers Bengaluru after a 15-year-old wunderkind stole the stage
Teenage star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hit 97 off only 29 balls to help Rajasthan Royals beat Hyderabad by 47 runs in Wednesday’s IPL eliminator.
Head faced eight balls, accumulating 17 runs before falling victim to Jofra Archer.
Earlier, when Hyderabad bowled, captain Cummins toiled fruitlessly, conceding 64 off his four overs as he was on the receiving end of the teen’s onslaught.
Sooryavanshi, 15, hit his second-highest individual score of the season, including 12 sixes and five fours, as Rajasthan reached a record 8-243 in 20 overs.
It was the second-highest total in IPL knockouts, a day after Bengaluru had posted the highest, 5-254 against Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1. Bengaluru beat Gujarat by 92 runs to advance to the final.
Meanwhile, Dhruv Jurel also hit 50 off 21, while Hyderabad’s top-order struggled to get going and were bowled out for 196 in 19.2 overs. Archer picked up 3-58 in four overs, while Nandre Burger took 2-26.
The defeat eliminates Hyderabad, while Rajasthan will now take on Gujarat in Qualifier 2 at the same venue, with the winner of that match to face Bengaluru in the final at Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Hyderabad opted to bowl but ran into Sooryavanshi, who smacked 50 off 16 balls, and took control of proceedings. He hit eight sixes as Rajasthan scored 0-80 in the powerplay and reached 100 in 44 balls.
Sooryavanshi smacked another four sixes, scoring 47 off the next 12 balls, and was one hit away from the fastest-ever IPL hundred when he was caught at third man in the eighth over.
He hit Praful Hinge for three sixes and two fours before holing out in search of Chris Gayle’s 30-ball record. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a tame 29 in comparison, was caught in the 11th over.
Sooryavanshi broke Jaiswal’s record of most IPL runs by an uncapped batter (626) — he now has 680 runs in 15 innings, the current season’s highest tally.
Jurel and skipper Riyan Parag then added 55 off 21 balls as Rajasthan carried forward their momentum. It was a sixth half-century for Jurel this season, before Hinge picked his second wicket.
Rajasthan lost regular wickets once past 200 in the 15th over but managed to garner enough momentum to record their highest-ever IPL total. Their previous best was also against Hyderabad when they made 5-242 last year.
Hyderabad needed a quickfire reply to have any chance, but it ran into an in-form Archer, who had wrecked Mumbai Indians in the previous game.
Archer dismissed Abhishek Sharma for a two-ball duck, bowled Travis Head for 17 and then Ishan Kishan was also caught leaving Hyderabad 4-57 in 4.4 overs.
Kishan had provided the quick start, hitting 33 off 11 balls, before he went for one shot too many off Archer.
The game was settled when Heinrich Klaasen was out lbw to Yash Raj Punja for 18.
From 5-81, Hyderabad breached the 190-mark thanks to Nitish Reddy (38) and impact sub Salil Arora (35), as the duo added 56 off 24 balls.
Ravindra Jadeja dismissed both, as Rajasthan beat Hyderabad for the first time in seven matches.
IPL 2026 standings
Team
Matches played
M
Wins
W
Losses
L
Ties
T
Drawn
D
No results
N/R
Net Run Rate
NRR
Deductions
Ded.
Batting Bonus
Bat
Bowling Bonus
Bowl
Total points
PTS
1
RCB
14
9
5
0
0
0
0.783
0
0
0
18
2
GUT
14
9
5
0
0
0
0.695
0
0
0
18
3
SUN
14
9
5
0
0
0
0.524
0
0
0
18
4
RAJ
14
8
6
0
0
0
0.189
0
0
0
16
5
KXI
14
7
6
0
0
1
0.309
0
0
0
15
6
DEL
14
7
7
0
0
0
-0.651
0
0
0
14
7
KKR
14
6
7
0
0
1
-0.147
0
0
0
13
8
CSK
14
6
8
0
0
0
-0.345
0
0
0
12
9
MI
14
4
10
0
0
0
-0.584
0
0
0
8
10
LSG
14
4
10
0
0
0
-0.74
0
0
0
8
Legend
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
D: Drawn
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
Bat: Batting Bonus
Bowl: Bowling Bonus
PTS: Total points
Australians in IPL 2026
Chennai Super Kings: Matt Short ($255k), Spencer Johnson ($255k, replaces Nathan Ellis ($340k))
Delhi Capitals: Mitchell Starc ($2m)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Josh Hazlewood ($2.13m), Tim David ($510k)
Punjab Kings: Marcus Stoinis ($1.9m), Ben Dwarshuis ($745k), Mitchell Owen ($510k), Cooper Connolly ($510k), Xavier Bartlett ($136k)
Kolkata Knight Riders: Cameron Green ($3.5m)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins ($3.5m), Travis Head ($2.38m), Jack Edwards ($510k, withdrawn)
Lucknow Super Giants: Josh Inglis ($1.49m), Mitchell Marsh ($578k)
