Rajasthan Royals endured their first defeat of the IPL 2026 season, losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 57 runs.
The loss was driven by a disastrous batting collapse, with RR reeling at 9/5 before recovering to 159 all out in 19 overs. Donovan Ferreira (69 off 44) and Ravindra Jadeja (45 off 32) were the lone bright spots during the chase.
Earlier, a blistering knock (91 off 44 balls) from captain Ishan Kishan propelled the Sunrisers to a formidable 216/6 in 20 overs.
After the loss, RR skipper Riyan Parag addressed his decision not to bowl left-arm finger spinner Ravindra Jadeja, saying it was a "split second" call influenced by Kishan’s aggressive batting.
Parag conceded that SRH scored roughly 30 runs too many, citing the tricky wicket and poor execution.
“I felt we started really well. Probably could have done a few things here and there. Jaddu bhai, I don't know, just split second decision. Ishan was batting really well, so I didn't want to take that chance. Trusted Bishnoi with the overs. But I felt they were 30 over par for sure with the way the wicket was playing,” Parag said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Reflecting on the batting collapse, the Royals captain stated: “As far as batting is concerned, I think being five wickets down for nine runs and still getting 160, that says a lot about the depth of our batting.”
Parag attributed the loss to "miscalculations" and losing "back-to-back wickets" but dismissed the defeat as a "blip" for the team.
“Not a lot of time to feel the emotions, to be honest. We lost back-to-back wickets, credit to the way they bowled. Probably a few miscalculations from us, but we will just take this as a blip and not think about it too much,” he said.
Parag noted the surface was "pretty good" but felt it was "sticky with the new ball" due to the shine.
“It was pretty good actually. I felt bowling second might have been better, probably because we lost wickets. It was a little sticky with the new ball with the shine on. After the shine was gone, I felt, it slowed down a bit and we could have bowled second, but then that's again hindsight and we could have batted way better.”
Riyan Parag specifically praised SRH's debutant seamers, Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain, who dismantled the RR batting line-up with four wickets each.
“Absolutely, I think I've not seen them a lot domestically, but I think I played Sakib once when I played against Bihar versus Assam. But they bowled beautifully. I felt the pressure they had with the home crowd supporting and chanting their names and stuff like that. I felt the way they bowled the first four overs, first four, five overs, I think really was beautiful,” he remarked.
Despite the heavy loss, Parag maintained an optimistic outlook. “Absolutely, like I said, it's just a blip and we move ahead to Kolkata and do something better,” he concluded.