IPL 2026 is nearing its end. In the season that started with 10 teams, the dream of winning the title of 8 teams was shattered, now one of Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bangalore will win the trophy. On Friday, Rajasthan Royals became the 8th team to be eliminated, this team captained by Riyan Parag was defeated by GT by 7 wickets in the second qualifier. After the match, Kumar Sangakkara took direct aim at Sam Curran, who joined RR from CSK through trade but did not play due to injury.

Rajasthan Royals gave Sanju Samson to Chennai Super Kings through a trade deal, in return they included Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran in their team. But after the T20 World Cup, he withdrew his name from IPL due to groin injury. Rajasthan had included Sri Lankan all-rounder Dasun Shanaka as his replacement.

After losing Qualifier-2 to Gujarat Titans, Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara expressed his displeasure that IPL 2026 was going on and Sam Curran was playing for ‘Surrey Team’. Speaking to the media, he said, “We were told that Sam Curran’s injury is serious, he will not be able to recover till the end of IPL 2026. I saw him playing 2-3 matches for ‘Surrey’, which was disappointing. We wanted to see him playing in our team.” However, he also said that it was good that we were informed earlier so that we could choose his replacement.

Also read- Vaibhav Suryavanshi broke down after the defeat of Rajasthan Royals, tears were not stopping; Video went viral

Sam Curran has captained the Surrey team in all the three matches played so far and is the highest run-scorer in the T20 Blast tournament. A few days ago, he had said about his injury that it cannot be said when I will be able to recover completely. He had said that the scan showed the injury to be serious, hence I had to take the decision to withdraw from IPL 2026.

Also read- ‘215 could have been defended, but…’, to whom did Riyan Parag tell the reason for the defeat, said this about Vaibhav

This season was excellent for Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who was included in Rajasthan Royals, he scored 776 runs in 16 innings. He is the orange cap holder till the final, second and third are Shubman Gill (722) and Sai Sudarshan (710). There is also a competition between Gill and Sudarshan for the Orange Cap.

Punjab Kings won against Lucknow Super Giants by 7 wickets on Saturday, with this the team reached fourth place in the points table. Today is the last day of the league stage, in which 2 matches are to be played. These matches will decide which will be the fourth team going into the playoffs. The first match is between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals. In the second match, Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals will face each other.

Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Titans have confirmed the top-2 positions. Qualifier-1 will be played between these two on 26th May. Sunrisers Hyderabad have secured the third position and will play the eliminator match on May 27, but who will they face? This will be decided today. The hopes of Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders are alive. Know the equation of all three teams reaching the playoffs.

Rajasthan Royals

The equation of Rajasthan Royals reaching the playoffs is very simple. If the team wins against Mumbai Indians today, it will become the fourth team to reach the playoffs, then the match to be held in the evening will not make any difference. If Mumbai wins then Rajasthan will be out.

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punjab kings

With the help of Shreyas Iyer’s century, Punjab Kings defeated LSG by 7 wickets in their last match of the league stage. The team reached fourth place with 15 points. PBKS can reach the playoffs if Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders lose their respective matches today. And if KKR won, they would have won by a margin of less runs. But if Rajasthan wins then Punjab will be out.

Kolkata Knight Riders

The last match of the league stage will be held today between Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals. Delhi is out of the playoff race and this match will become exciting if Rajasthan Royals loses in the afternoon. If RR wins then Kolkata will also be out along with Punjab.

Also read- RCB got a big shock before the playoffs, the dreaded batsman returned to his country after getting injured.

Kolkata needs Rajasthan to lose and to beat Delhi Capitals by a big margin. Because KKR can reach 15 points, PBKS also has the same number of points but Punjab has a better net run rate. Therefore, to get a better net run rate, KKR should win by 77 runs if they are defending 200 runs or chase it in 12.4 overs if the target is 180.

Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag played a brilliant inning of 90 runs against Delhi Capitals, earlier this season he was seen struggling to score runs. However, he missed his century and his team also lost the match. Chasing the target, Delhi openers KL Rahul (75) and Pathum Nissanka (62) made a great start and made a partnership of 110 runs for the first wicket.

According to Riyan Parag, Rajasthan Royals had made a good score, but he admitted that the bowling was not good in the middle overs. Rajasthan sent Ravindra Jadeja to bat before the in-form Donovan Ferreira, which proved to be a wrong decision. Jadeja was out after being set. Ferreira got to play only 14 balls, in which he scored unbeaten 47 runs at a strike rate of 335. Had he been sent earlier, perhaps he could have scored more runs.

Parag said, “There were more than 200 runs, I thought it was a good score. We could have bowled even better in the middle overs.” Regarding keeping the finishers in check, he said, “It was also a matter of lefty-righty. To be honest, I don’t know exactly. There were eight-nine overs left, we wanted to delay it a little more. Eight-nine runs were being scored in the spinners’ overs. There was no need to think too much about it.”

Also read – He is only 15 years old…, aggressive celebration on Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s wicket proved costly, Jamieson is being criticized

What did the captain say about his injury?

Regarding his injury, Riyan Parag said, “Hopefully it is not too serious, it is a hamstring injury. It will get better with a week’s rest.” Regarding his innings, he said, “I don’t need to answer the critics. We lost the match.” In the end he became a little emotional. His eyes were moist.

Also read- When Jadeja showed the bat, Kuldeep Yadav pushed, why two Indian players started fighting in the LIVE match; video viral

This is the fourth defeat of Rajasthan Royals this season. After winning 6 out of 10 matches, Rajasthan remains at fourth position in the points table. With the win, Delhi Capitals moved from seventh to sixth place in the table.

Vaibhav Suryavanshi played a brilliant inning of 39 runs in 14 balls against Mumbai Indians in Tuesday’s match, which broke the morale of MI bowlers. Yashasvi Jaiswal also scored 77 runs in explosive style. The special thing in Vaibhav’s innings was that he hit a six on the very first ball of Jasprit Bumrah, which showed how fearlessly he bats. Vaibhav hit 5 sixes in this innings played at a strike rate of 278.

This rain-affected match was decided at 11 overs per team. Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to bowl first, but Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal proved it completely wrong. Both of them made a partnership of 80 runs in 30 balls for the first wicket, both the openers were playing in an explosive style. Jaiswal played an inning of 77 runs in 32 balls, in which he hit 4 sixes and 10 fours.

Vaibhav Suryavanshi was caught out on the last ball of the fifth over, but before that he had played a brilliant innings. Despite this, he looked very sad after getting out. After the team’s victory, he posted a special message on social media and wrote a special message for the fans.

Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s post after victory

Batting first, Rajasthan Royals scored 150 runs in 11 overs, in reply Mumbai Indians could score only 123 runs. Both the openers in the form of Ryan Rickelton (8) and Rohit Sharma (5) were flops, the veteran batsmen who came after them also could not do anything special. Suryakumar Yadav could score 6, Tilak Verma could score 14 and Hardik Pandya could score only 9 runs.

After the victory, Vaibhav Suryavanshi shared some pictures of the match on Instagram and thanked his fans. He wrote in the caption, “Thank you for the support.”

Rajasthan Royals have come first in the points table after winning 3 consecutive matches. Vaibhav Suryavanshi has batted explosively in all three matches, he scored a half-century (52) in the first match against Chennai Super Kings.

After the announcement of the possible dates of the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League, the schedule of the matches has not been announced yet by the BCCI. It was told by the board that the league will be organized from 26 March to 31 May. But now a possibility is also emerging that the dates of IPL may be extended. Actually, assembly elections are to be held in many states of the country this year, which may impact this league.

BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla had confirmed that the schedule of the tournament matches will be released only after the Election Commission announces the dates of the assembly elections. Let us understand it in 4 points and know what is the latest update on this.

Of course, BCCI has not announced the full schedule yet, but its possible dates were announced in December. It was expected that IPL 2026 would start from March 26 and the final would be held on May 31. There will be a total of 84 matches, the first match will be between last year’s champion Royal Challengers Bangalore and runner-up Punjab Kings.

IPL 2026 schedule not announced due to elections

Speaking to IANS, BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla said that due to the assembly elections in the states, the full schedule is not being announced yet. He had told that BCCI does not want there to be a conflict between the dates of voting and matches in any state. BCCI is working on the IPL schedule, but the announcement of election dates is still awaited. He told that once the election date is known, we will be able to decide the IPL schedule.

Elections may cause problems in these states

Assembly elections will be held in many states of the country this year. Meanwhile, BCCI is keeping its eyes on the election dates of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Rajasthan Royals’ home matches are to be held at Barsapara Stadium in Assam. M Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai is the home ground of CSK. KKR plays its home matches at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

Discussion on RR’s home venue

The report quoted Rajeev Shukla as saying, “The BCCI has asked the franchises regarding the home venue of RCB and Rajasthan Royals and has asked them to take the final decision within a week. Within a week, both the franchises will decide their home ground, according to which the schedule will be made. Currently, the decision of both the teams and the announcement of the election dates are awaited.”

The home ground of Rajasthan Royals is Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. But due to the controversy between Rajasthan Cricket Association and the franchise, there is a possibility that the match will not be held on this ground. Rajasthan can choose Guwahati as its home ground, but elections are to be held there.

RCB’s home venue has not been decided

The first match of IPL has been held at the home ground of the traditional champion team, that is, the opening match should be held at the home ground of Royal Challengers Bangalore. But the home ground of RCB has not been finalized yet. Although M Chinnaswamy Stadium has been the home ground of RCB since the first season, but after the death of many people in the stampede last year, the state government had banned organizing games here.

Last week, the state government has given approval to Karnataka State Cricket Association to organize IPL and international matches with conditions. RCB also announced the installation of an Artificial Intelligence system worth Rs 4.5 crore here, so that accidents can be prevented.

Before IPL 2026, a big news is coming regarding Rajasthan Royals. The franchise is considering changing its home ground. In the upcoming IPL edition, Rajasthan’s home games will not only be played in Jaipur but outside the state itself. It may shift to Pune, about 1200 kilometers away from Jaipur.

According to the report of Cricbuzz, there are indications that Rajasthan Royals may shift their home matches to Pune. However, nothing is final yet. The final decision regarding changing the venue will be taken by BCCI, but Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) will first have to confirm that it is ready to host the franchise’s home game.

Rajasthan Royals want to make MCA Stadium as home ground

According to the report, Rajasthan Royals management has started exploring options for a new base. He wants to make Pune’s MCA Stadium his home ground. Initial talks have already taken place between Rajasthan Royals and MCA officials.

Cricbuzz reported in its report that an operations team of the franchise had recently gone to Pune to look at the stadium, hotel options, airport connectivity and other logistics.

Dispute between RR and RCA?

According to the report, the reason for the shift of Rajasthan Royals is clearly due to some problems with the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA). In the last edition, an association official had accused the team of match-fixing. The franchise had denied the allegations and demanded strict action against the person.

If Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium becomes the home ground of Rajasthan Royals, then the team will play 4 matches here in the upcoming season and the other 3 matches are likely to be held in Guwahati. Let us tell you that an IPL team plays 7 matches on its home ground.

An MCA official told Cricbuzz, “Yes, they came here to know the details about the stadium capacity, pitches and hotels in the city. Our President, Mr. Rohit Pawar, is very keen that the IPL comes back to the city. He is doing everything possible.”

Let us tell you that the last time an IPL match was played in MCA was in 2022, this season the entire tournament was held in Maharashtra.

RCB had also approached

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) management is also looking for a venue, as the Karnataka government has refused to give permission to the franchise in M ​​Chinnaswamy. Let us tell you that last season many fans were killed in a stampede outside this stadium while celebrating the victory.

According to the report, MCA is also looking at its options. Explaining the situation with the defending champions, MCA told Cricbuzz, “RCB’s interest is genuine, but there is no guarantee that they will play at another venue. Any such move will depend on many factors.”

England all-rounder Sam Curran, who came to Rajasthan Royals from Chennai Super Kings through a trade deal before the IPL 2026 auction, has started a new innings. He proposed to his girlfriend Isabella (Isabella Grace Symonds) on his knees, on which she looked emotional. Karan and Isabella, in a joint post, informed that both of them got engaged on November 20, 2025.

Chennai Super Kings had bought Sam Curran for Rs 2.40 crore in the last auction, but gave him to Rajasthan Royals through trade before the auction for the upcoming season. Along with him, CSK also allowed Ravindra Jadeja to go to Rajasthan. Sam Karan’s fiancee has also come to India many times, she also came with Karan to Anant Ambani’s wedding.

Who is Sam Curran’s fiancee?

Sam Curran’s fiancee’s name is Isabella Grace Symonds. Both have been dating each other for a long time. She has come to India for IPL matches and on many other occasions. According to her profile, Grace is an actress and writer. She is also very active on Instagram, she has more than 40 thousand followers.

27-year-old Sam Curran has played for England in all three formats, he has played 24 Tests, 38 ODIs and 64 T20I matches for England. In these he has taken 47, 35 and 57 wickets respectively.

The English all-rounder has been playing in the Indian Premier League since 2019. Sam Curran started his career with Punjab Kings, he has played 3 editions (2020, 2021 and 2025) for Chennai Super Kings and 3 seasons (2019, 2023 and 2024) for Punjab Kings. He will play for Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming season (IPL 2026).