Slammed over extra cover! Head gives himself room and fetches this length ball on off. One bounce for four. That's how you release pressure.

SRH: 6/1 (1.4)

Jofra Archer strikes first ball! He gets the massive wicket of Abhishek Sharma. The left-hander charged down the track, but the ball swerved just enough to deceive him. He went for a wild swing, but the top edge flew straight to deep backward point. Easy catch for Bishnoi. Absolute silence here in Hyderabad!

Abhishek Sharma c Ravi Bishnoi b Archer 0 (1)

SRH: 0/1 (0.1)

Travishek is out in the middle! Abhishek to face the first ball. Archer has the new ball in his hands. We are underwah in Hyderabad!

Rajasthan Royals bowling-first XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (capt), Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Tushar Deshpande

RR bench: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravi Singh, Shubham Dubey, Brijesh Sharma

Sunrisers Hyderabad batting-first XI: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (capt & wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Praful Hinge

SRH bench: R Smaran, Sakib Hussain, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Harshal Patel

RR will field first in Hyderabad. 2 changes for either side. Hetmyer has been rested, with Lhuan dre-Pretorius replacing him. Tushar Deshpande is back in place of Brijesh.

For SRH, Harshal and Unadkat miss out. Hinge and Sakib come in, with the latter likely to be the Imapct Sub.

We are just minutes away from the toss in Hyderabad! This venue is notoriously one of the most brutal grounds in the country for bowlers, making it a classic 'bowl first' wicket. The same fixture last year was an absolute run-fest, with over 500 runs scored across both innings-expect nothing less than another batting masterclass tonight.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is just 48 runs away from reaching the 500-run milestone in the IPL. In a record-breaking debut season last year, the 15-year-old left-hander smashed 252 runs in seven games at a staggering strike rate of 206.56.

SRH lead RR 12-9 in H2H meetings in IPL. The hosts have also won four of the last five encounters against their opponents, giving them a pyschological edge. However, with injured Pat Cummins and Byrdon Carse still unavailable, RR enter enter the clash as firm favourites.

Sooryavanshi currently holds a 16-run lead in the Orange Cap race and will look to consolidate his position against SRH. The 15-year-old has smashed 200 runs in four matches so far. SRH's Heinrich Klaasen is not far behind, having tallied 184 runs in as many appearances.

SRH opener Abhishek Sharma is 55 runs away from 2,000 IPL runs. In 81 matches, Abhishek has scored 1,945 runs in 78 innings at an average of 27.39 and a strike rate of 165.81, with a century and 10 fifties, with best score of 141. For SRH, he has made 1,882 runs in 78 matches and 75 innings at an average of 26.88 and a strike rate of 165.08, with a century and 10 fifties.

Hello and welcome to our live blog of the IPL 2026 clash between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals. This matchup promises guaranteed fireworks as two of the tournament's most explosive opening pairs go head-to-head: Hyderabad's Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma take on the Royals' standout duo, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.