Sunrisers Hyderabad, led by Pat Cummins, crashed out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season on Wednesday after losing to the Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator by 47 runs. The Orange Army, which won nine out of 14 league stage games, looked hapless in Mullanpur as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hammered the Sunrisers bowlers all around the park. The 15-year-old sensation smashed 97 runs off 29 balls, helping the Royals post 243/8 in the allotted twenty overs.
Skipper Cummins had a bad day at the office, as he leaked 60 runs in his quota of four overs, and Sooryavanshi took a special liking to him, smashing 25 runs in one of his overs. After bowing out of the tournament, Cummins sported a sorry and dejected face, but he identified Sooryavanshi’s knock as the game-changing moment.
Cummins also stated that the margin of error is very low when Sooryavanshi is in the middle, as he has the knack of dispatching every loose delivery for a boundary or a six.
“He played pretty well. Don’t feel like you have too many options. Obviously, it was a really good pitch, but the margins are so small. If you miss your yorker by a little bit, he doesn’t tend to miss them. So, uh, yeah, fair play,” Cummins said after the match.
In the group stage, Sunrisers finished third in the points table with 18 points, the same number of points as table toppers Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Gujarat Titans. In the initial few matches, SRH were without their captain Pat Cummins, and Ishan Kishan led the side in his absence.
“We end up as a really well-rounded team,” said Cummins.
“I think we’re one tiny little bit away from being in the top two as well. So you can’t ask for much more. The boys have been fantastic, their attitude all year, the way they’ve gone about it. Looks like they’ve really enjoyed the cricket. So I can’t ask for anything more,” he added.
The chase goes awry
Sunrisers were never in the contest after losing Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Travis Head in the powerplay. Jofra Archer scalped all the important wickets. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Salil Arora did stitch a partnership of more than 50 runs, but once Reddy perished for 38, all hopes were done and dusted for the Sunrisers.
With this win over the Sunrisers, the Royals progressed to Qualifier 2 and the Riyan Parag-led side will next take on the Gujarat Titans on Friday in Mullanpur.
