Sooryavanshi's 93 off 38 puts RR fourth — KKR must win tonight to survive
The 15-year-old's 10-six blitz moved Rajasthan into the final playoff slot; KKR face an eliminated Mumbai at Eden Gardens with their season hanging by a thread.
How last night went · Match 64 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
220/5 (20) — Mitchell Marsh 96 (57) · Josh Inglis 60 (29)
Bowling: Yash Raj Punja 2/35 (RR) · Jofra Archer 1/39 (RR) · Mohsin Khan 1/31 (LSG) · Akash Singh 1/54 (LSG)
Toss: RR won, opted to bowl · Player of the Match: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
The one to remember
At Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Tuesday night, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi reached his fifty off 23 balls — full deliveries, short ones, good length, he launched them all. He was on 37 when Jaiswal fell just after the powerplay with RR needing 150 from 13 overs and the asking rate climbing toward 13. What followed was 10 sixes in total, a 105-run stand with Dhruv Jurel, and the Jaipur crowd giving a 15-year-old something close to a coronation as RR sealed their seat in fourth place on home soil.
The moments that decided it
- Hit Sooryavanshi's range. 93 off 38 balls, 10 sixes, SR 244.7 — full, short, or good length, he found the boundary or the stand on every other over.
- Hit Jurel's anchor innings. 53* off 38 from No.3 — held the non-striker end steady while Sooryavanshi attacked, then closed the game himself.
- Hit RR's death bowling. Archer clean-bowled Badoni on the last ball of the LSG innings; Punja took two middle-order wickets to keep LSG under 225.
- Miss Marsh's run-out. 96 off 57 was a brilliant innings, but he ran himself out on the penultimate ball, four short of a hundred that might have changed the target.
- Miss LSG's bowling plan. Conceded 71 in the powerplay and never disrupted Sooryavanshi's rhythm; the match was effectively over before the 15th over.
- Turning point Jaiswal fell just after the powerplay at 71/1 — LSG's last realistic window. Sooryavanshi and Jurel responded with 105 together in the next 12 overs, and RR crossed the line with five balls and seven wickets to spare.
Tonight on the field · Match 65
Stakes: KKR (11pts, 12 games played) must win to stay mathematically alive in the fourth-place race; MI are already eliminated and Hardik Pandya returns from injury for a final-stretch outing.
Matchup to watch: Jasprit Bumrah vs Angkrish Raghuvanshi — Bumrah opens MI's attack, Raghuvanshi anchors KKR's top order; if Bumrah gets through him early, KKR's first-innings total never gets competitive.
Pitch: Eden Gardens has averaged 202 in the first innings at IPL 2026, and teams winning the toss have consistently chosen to bowl first — dew in the second innings has been decisive at this ground all season.
Where things stand
| # | Team | M | W | L | Pts | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RCB | 12 | 9 | 3 | 18 | +1.065 |
| 2 | GT | 13 | 8 | 5 | 16 | +0.400 |
| 3 | SRH | 13 | 8 | 5 | 16 | +0.350 |
| 4 | RR | 13 | 7 | 6 | 14 | +0.083 |
| 5 | PBKS | 13 | 6 | 6 | 13 | +0.227 |
| 6 | CSK | 13 | 6 | 7 | 12 | -0.016 |
| 7 | DC | 13 | 6 | 7 | 12 | -0.871 |
| 8 | KKR | 12 | 5 | 6 | 11 | -0.038 |
| 9 | MI | 13 | 4 | 9 | 8 | -0.421 |
| 10 | LSG | 13 | 4 | 9 | 8 | -0.307 |
Where every fan stands tonight
- RCB — Top of the table with one league game left — it is now an NRR battle with GT for Qualifier 1 and a home advantage.
- GT — Playoffs locked. Pushing for 2nd and a home Qualifier 1 at Ahmedabad.
- SRH — Through. Chasing GT's NRR for the coveted second spot — Klaasen and Abhishek in form.
- PBKS — 13 points from 13 games, one match left — a win takes them to 15, but they still need RR to slip.
- RR — Fourth is theirs to lose. Win the last league game and they are in. Sooryavanshi just reminded the table who owns this run.
- CSK — Two points off the pace. Tomorrow's game against GT is now a must-win with a side-eye on every other scoreboard.
- KKR — Must win tonight and need results elsewhere. Varun Chakravarthy's fitness is the sub-plot nobody in the BCCI wants to ignore.
- DC — Level with CSK on points but NRR of -0.871 is a deep, deep hole — wins alone cannot dig them out.
- MI — Eliminated. Hardik Pandya back tonight — a chance to end the season with something to build on.
- LSG — Season over. Marsh's 563 runs and Shami's return to full rhythm are the two real takeaways from 2026.
Names worth knowing
Orange Cap
- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (RR) — 579 · 13M · SR 236.3
- Mitchell Marsh (LSG) — 563 · 13M · SR 165.8
- Heinrich Klaasen (SRH) — 555 · 13M · SR 162.4
- Sai Sudharsan (GT) — 521 · 13M · SR 148.6
- Shubman Gill (GT) — 505 · 13M · SR 143.0
Purple Cap
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar (RCB) — 24 wkts · 12M
- Kagiso Rabada (GT) — 21 wkts · 13M
- Anshul Kamboj (CSK) — 19 wkts · 13M
- Jofra Archer (RR) — 17 wkts · 13M
- Rashid Khan (GT) — 16 wkts · 13M
Around the boundary
BCCI formally questions KKR over Varun Chakravarthy's fractured foot. India's premier spinner has a hairline fracture in his left foot but has been bowling full four-over spells for KKR regardless, visibly limping between deliveries. The BCCI has formally sought clarification from KKR's management and deployed Centre of Excellence medical staff to monitor him directly. The board's official line is that it 'cannot interfere' during the IPL window, but the concern runs deeper: Varun is a first-choice selection for India's seven-match T20I series against England beginning June 26. He is expected to bowl tonight at Eden Gardens, and the country-vs-club tension is now a live issue the board cannot quietly ignore.
Sooryavanshi breaks Andre Russell's seven-year IPL strike-rate record — at 15. After his 93 off 38 last night, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's season strike rate is 236.3 — the highest ever by any batter who has crossed 500 runs in a single IPL campaign. He passes Andre Russell's 205.0 for KKR in 2019, a record that stood untouched for seven years. Russell was 30 when he set it; Sooryavanshi turned 15 in March. RR have at least one league game remaining, so the number has not stopped moving yet.
IPL 2026 playoff tickets go live today as the fourth-spot race enters its final act. The BCCI confirmed that TATA IPL 2026 playoff tickets go on sale from May 20, with all four knockout fixture venues now confirmed. Three of the four playoff spots are set — RCB, GT, SRH confirmed — meaning the remaining ticket demand will be driven entirely by which fifth team eventually clinches fourth. The digital sale opened to heavy early traffic today, consistent with a season that has broken online viewership records. The IPL Final is scheduled for May 31.
Riyan Parag said RR 'should not be in the top four' — Sooryavanshi answered. After RR's five-wicket defeat to Delhi Capitals last week, captain Riyan Parag was sharply self-critical at the press conference, saying his side lacked the skills, energy, and execution that a top-four team needs and adding that they 'should not be in the top four' if they keep playing that way. The comments were pointed and unusual mid-season. Twenty-four hours later, a 15-year-old from Bihar went to Jaipur, hit 10 sixes in 38 balls, and put RR into fourth place. Parag had a point. So did Sooryavanshi.
Tomorrow
GT vs CSK. GT are through to the playoffs but fighting for 2nd spot and home advantage in Qualifier 1; for CSK, it is now a mathematical must-win, and even a win likely requires results elsewhere to go their way.
Sources: espncricinfo.com, business-standard.com, outlookindia.com, sports.yahoo.com, cricketaddictor.com, mykhel.com, sundayguardianlive.com, insidesport.in, cricketaddictor.com, newsx.com.