IPL 2026 Eliminator: SRH decide to bowl against RR with one big change; Playing XIs revealed

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) won the toss and invited Rajasthan Royals (RR) to bat first in the highly-anticipated Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Eliminator clash at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh.

Ravindra Jadeja returned to RR's playing XI. Meanwhile, SRH too made one change to their playing XI as they brought in Praful Hinge in their fold.

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What did the captains say at the toss?

SRH captain Pat Cummins, after winning the toss, said:

"We are going to have a bowl first. (Does having played finals before help?) I'm not sure really. I think maybe if you've played a few, you feel a bit more relaxed about it. But yeah, I think the most important thing is you are coming off having played really good cricket, which our guys are doing. (Your message to the bowlers?) We like to keep it pretty simple. There might be one or two guys or moments where we feel like we need to have a good plan for, but outside of that, we just want to lean into guys' strengths. (Any changes?) Hinge comes back in. (Have you thought about batting first?) Yes, I don't think we're that bothered, to be honest. We've won plenty of games batting first. Here seems to be a good chasing venue. Honestly, we had lost the toss it wouldn't have mattered too much. But yeah, we'll have a crack first with the ball.."

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Meanwhile, RR skipper Riyan Parag, after losing the toss, said:

"Yeah, again, a little undecided, but we would have liked to bowl first as well. Having looked at the history here, I think two games this season, two games both chased, but good time to change that. (Three out of three wins so far at this venue) Yeah, happy memories. I think we've chased and defended as well. So I feel good memories, hopefully that continues. (How are you doing?) I'm not fit to play. (Does having must-win situation help?) Maybe a mindset shift, yes. Just adds a little bit more to the table, a little bit more to the game. And even now, I think we've got no other options other than to win. But I think the chats have been that we keep doing the same thing. We leave it all once we step onto the ground, once we cross the boundary ropes. And if we can go back after 40 overs, look at the mirror and say we gave it our all, I'm happy whether we win or lose. (Any changes?) Pretty much the same team, just Jaddu comes into the XI and Dubey is impact."

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

Rajasthan Royals Impact subs: Shubham Dubey, Sushant Mishra, Aman Rao Perala, Ravi Bishnoi, Tushar Deshpande

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

Sunrisers Hyderabad Impact subs: Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel