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Rajasthan Royals (RR) have made a royal entry into the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 playoffs. The team captained by Riyan Parag captured the last spot of the playoffs by registering a 30-run win against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Sunday (May 24). RR stood fourth in the table with 16 points. Now they will face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the eliminator. SRH has finished in third place.

Why eliminator between RR and SRH?

The teams finishing in the top-2 in IPL get two chances to reach the finals. They face each other in Qualifier 1, in which the winning team goes straight to the title match. The losing team gets another chance and plays Qualifier 2. The eliminator is played between the third and fourth placed teams. The team that wins this match gets entry in Qualifier 2, while if it loses, it is certain to be out.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) have finished in the top-2. Therefore they will play the qualifiers. Due to being at number three and fourth, SRH and RR will have to play eliminator. SRH is the only team in the history of IPL, which has won the title by playing eliminator.

How is RR’s record in the eliminator?

RR has made it to the playoffs for the seventh time. The first champion team of IPL has played 11 matches so far in the playoffs, in which it has won 5 and lost 6. RR has won 2 out of 4 eliminator matches, while it has lost 2.

They defeated SRH in the eliminator of the 2013 season but lost to MI in Qualifier 2. After this, RR had to face defeat in the eliminators of 2015 and 2018. RR had defeated RCB in the eliminator of the 2024 season but once again their journey came to a halt in Qualifier 2. This time he was defeated by SRH.

RR vs SRH head to head record

So far 23 matches have been played between RR and SRH in IPL. SRH leads 14-9 in head to head record. These two teams faced each other twice this season, in which SRH won both times. Talking about the last 5 matches between RR and SRH, SRH is ahead 5-0 here.