IPL 2026 Eliminator: RR vs SRH Toss, Playing XI, Pitch Report and Match Preview

The biggest IPL cricket match of the week is upon us. Tonight at the PCA New Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals decide who lives to fight another day in IPL 2026. This is the IPL 2026 Eliminator, and the stakes could not be higher. Win and you advance. Lose and your IPL 2026 journey is over.Both teams have worked hard all season to get here, and tonight's IPL match is the reward for that effort. If you are searching for today's IPL match score, live IPL score, or just want to know everything about RR vs SRH before the game begins, here is your complete guide.

Before we get to today's IPL match, let us quickly cover yesterday's IPL results. Yesterday, May 26, Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Gujarat Titans by 92 runs in Qualifier 1, with RCB posting 254/5. That was a massive win. RCB are through to the final. Now GT drop down to Qualifier 2, where the winner of tonight's SRH vs RR Eliminator will face them on May 29. The IPL final is on May 31.

The Indian Premier League 2026 standings after the league stage were as follows. Royal Challengers Bengaluru finished first, Gujarat Titans second, Sunrisers Hyderabad third, and Rajasthan Royals secured the fourth and final playoff spot. SRH finished their league campaign strongly, while RR fought out a thrilling last-day win against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede to seal fourth place.

In the IPL 2026 standings, SRH and RR both showed they belong in the top four. Now comes the knockout stage, and the Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals standings in the head-to-head column also matter. Overall in IPL history, SRH lead RR 14-9 across 23 matches. That is a significant gap.

For fans wondering about the next IPL match after tonight's Eliminator, here is the full IPL 2026 playoff schedule. May 29 will see the Qualifier 2, where the winner of tonight's Eliminator takes on Gujarat Titans (the loser of Qualifier 1), at 7:30 PM IST. The IPL 2026 final is scheduled for May 31. As for the IPL 2026 start date, the tournament began back in March 2026, and this is the business end of the season.

The live streaming of the IPL 2026 Eliminator between SRH and RR will be available on the JioHotstar app. TV viewers can watch the match live on Star Sports 1, 2, and 3 channels in HD and non-HD.

The toss for RR vs SRH is scheduled just before the 7:30 PM IST start. Both captains, Pat Cummins of SRH and Riyan Parag of RR, are expected to want to bowl first. Three out of four IPL 2026 matches at this venue have been won by the team that bowled first. Dew is expected to arrive later in the evening, making batting easier in the second innings under lights. So whoever wins the toss will almost certainly choose to bowl.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Probable XI):Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, R Smaran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (captain), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain. Impact players: Harshal Patel, Praful Hinge.

Rajasthan Royals (Probable XI):Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (captain), Donovan Ferreira, Shubham Dubey, Ravindra Jadeja, Dasun Shanaka, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Yash Raj Punja. Impact players: Ravi Bishnoi, Brijesh Sharma.

The PCA New Cricket Stadium, also known as the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, is one of the newest and most impressive venues in Indian cricket. The average first-innings score at this stadium in IPL 2026 has been above 214 runs. Batters love this ground. The outfield is fast, the boundaries are large, and the pitch generally offers something for everyone.

The pitch at Mullanpur usually has a good covering of grass, offering excellent pace, bounce, and carry early on. As the match progresses, it settles into a good batting surface. Spinners get some grip and turn in the middle overs. Expect both pace and spin to play a role at different stages of tonight's IPL cricket match. RR are unbeaten at Mullanpur this season, with three wins from three games at this venue.

One of the biggest storylines running through this season is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's incredible numbers and his chase of IPL records. Sooryavanshi has smashed 53 sixes in 14 matches this season while scoring 583 runs at a strike rate of 232.27. He is the first Indian batter to hit over 50 sixes in a single IPL season.

He is now just seven sixes short of the all-time IPL record for most sixes in a season. The highest individual score in IPL history remains Chris Gayle's unbeaten 175 off 66 balls for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Pune Warriors in 2013. Sooryavanshi has stated clearly that the record he most wants to break is that 175. Whether he does it tonight or later in the playoffs, every time he walks out to bat, that possibility feels real.

Looking back at IPL results in this season, both teams had fascinating journeys. SRH's IPL 2026 was going nowhere in the first four games, with just one win. Then they met RR, beat them by 57 runs, and began a run of five straight wins that lifted them into playoff contention. The return of captain Pat Cummins in the latter half transformed their campaign, with SRH winning five of their last seven league matches.

RR, on the other hand, started brilliantly with four straight wins but then hit a rough patch. SRH beat RR twice this season and are on a six-match winning streak against them. That is the context RR walk into tonight with.

The central battle tonight is between SRH's explosive top three and RR's pace attack led by Jofra Archer. Archer has a better personal record against Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Ishan Kishan than any other bowler in either attack. If he gets Abhishek early in the powerplay, SRH's entire scoring model breaks down.

Heinrich Klaasen is SRH's leading run-scorer this season with 606 runs at a strike rate of 159.47. He is the kind of batter who can take any match away from an opponent in the middle overs.

For RR, everything revolves around their 15-year-old superstar. For all practical purposes, 50% of the outcome in this match depends on how Vaibhav Sooryavanshi fares. If he scores, the total reaches past 220 or 230, which in turn gives confidence to the other batters.