The last time Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad met, some 10-odd days back, the former had entered the contest as the favourites but were humbled on the field.

They again face off on Saturday, this time in Jaipur, and now it’s the Sunrisers who have the upper hand.

Dominance is always shifting in the IPL. Very few teams manage to call the shots from start to finish. So, predicting the outcome of a match based on form is not always the right thing to do. But it can’t be ignored either.

So the Sunrisers, who have won their last three games, will perhaps start with an
edge on Saturday, but the Royals, at their home ground, will surely back themselves to exact revenge.

The Royals, who started IPL 2026 in a slam-bang fashion, have wobbled of late, losing two of their last three matches. Importantly, though they won their last game —
by 40 runs against the Lucknow Super Giants — their batters, especially the top three, struggled.

It is no secret that the Royals’ top three — Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel — hold the key to their dominance. If they fail in unison, it becomes very difficult for the pink team to have a grip on the game. All three were dismissed for single-digit scores against Lucknow.

What would worry them even more is the memory of their last encounter with the Sunrisers, when two unheralded pacers ran through their batting line-up.

The Sunrisers would surely unleash Praful Hinge and the very impressive Sakib Hussain on the Royals on Saturday to prick the wounds. But that’s not the only point that gives the Sunrisers an edge.

At least one of their top three has got a fifty in their last three matches. And the Sunrisers’ top three — Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Ishan Kishan — is perhaps even more dangerous than that of the Royals. Abhishek made 135 not out in their last game.

South African pacer Gerald Coetzee has joined the Sunrisers as a replacement for David Payne. Sunrisers can use him as an Impact Player.