Sunrisers Hyderabad opt to bowl against Rajasthan Royals in IPL Eliminator

MULLANPUR: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) won the toss and decided to field against the inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Eliminator clash on Wednesday evening.

The high-voltage clash between Hyderabad and Rajasthan is taking place at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh. The winner of the Eliminator clash will face the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 on Friday. The Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers side has defeated the Royals on two occasions during the league stage.

“We will bowl first. I think we have played some good cricket of late. We will try to keep our bowling simple and let them play to their strengths. Hinge comes back in. I think we are not bothered about the pressure, it’s a good chasing ground,” Cummins said.

RR captain Riyan Parag said his side would also have opted to bowl. “We also would have bowled first as it’s a good chasing ground. This has been a good ground, as we have chased and defended. I am fit to play. We have no other option than to win, I am happy with the team’s performance… Jaddu (Jadeja) comes back in the XI, Dubey is the impact player,” he said.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins(c), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge.

SRH Impact subs: Aniket Verma, Salil Arora, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel.

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel(w), Riyan Parag(c), Donovan Ferreira, Dasun Shanaka, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja.

RR Impact subs: Shubham Dubey, Sushant Mishra, Aman Rao Perala, Ravi Bishnoi, Tushar Deshpande. (ANI)