RR will face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on May 27 in the Eliminator in New Chandigarh.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) became the 4th and final team to qualify for the IPL 2026 playoffs, as they defeated Mumbai Indians (MI) at Wankhede Stadium on May 24, 2026, in their final league game. This meant that Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) were eliminated from the tournament.
MI captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and chose to field first. RR had a scratchy innings with Dhruv Jurel (38), Jofra Archer (32), and Dasun Shanaka (29) taking RR to 205/8 in 20 overs. Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur took two wickets each for MI.
In response, Suryakumar Yadav (60), Will Jacks (33), and Hardik Pandya (34) were the only MI batters to make some substantial runs as they were restricted to 175/6 and lost the game by 30 runs.
RR captain Riyan Parag talked about the team qualifying for the playoffs and showed relief and elation.
“Obviously, it's good when things go to plan. I know we've won the game and we've qualified, but there are a lot of areas where we can do better. Wanted the set batter to play a little longer. We needed runs. It's a wicket where you can't have two players batting in the middle and going at a run a ball. Wanted one guy to take the initiative, take the risk. And the other guy could stay a little bit longer. And Jadeja is as reliable as always.
I knew back then he would get us at least 20 off 10, which he did. Have taken a lot of brave calls, actually, this season. That's how I like to lead. That's how I lead Assam as well. You've got to take your chances; it's not a gamble. Of course, you think about it a lot,” Riyan Parag said during the post-match presentation.
Parag had missed a couple of games for RR due to a hamstring injury and talked about the same.
“I'm definitely not fit. All of this was mental toughness. I was not supposed to play today. I was not supposed to play another game. Yeah, yeah, of course (when asked about playing in playoffs),” Parag added.
“Jofra's fine; he's strong as a rock. Jaddu bhai has some niggles here and there. But again, he's got the sword; he's a warrior; he'll be back. We should've qualified way earlier. Left it a little too late. Left a lot on the table. We're picking up the slack three games in a row. Hopefully, we learn from all our mistakes and put up a better show,” he added.
RR will face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on May 27 in the Eliminator in New Chandigarh.