With a scorching 52 from adolescent opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, a double-strike from Ravindra Jadeja, and incisive new-ball spells from Jofra Archer and Nandre Burger, Rajasthan Royals began their IPL 2026 campaign on Monday with an overwhelming eight-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings at the ACA Stadium.
Archer and Burger took advantage of the red-soil pitch’s swing and seam movement to bowl CSK out for only 127 after a shaky start in the absence of MS Dhoni and Dewald Brevis. After a hiatus of 17 years, Jadeja made a successful comeback to RR by striking twice in his first over, while debutant Brijesh Sharma contributed a breakthrough.
Despite the fact that the overall score was still mediocre, Jamie Overton was the sole player to offer any opposition. He counterattacked at number eight, scoring 43 runs off 36 balls, which pulled CSK past 120 from 84/8 and prevented the humiliation of being bowled out for under 100. Sooryavanshi responded by making the pursuit a solo demonstration.
After being dismissed for nothing, he sprinted to a 15-ball fifty – the third fastest in IPL history – with four fours and five sixes, giving RR a 74 without loss in the Powerplay. The harm was already done, even if he fell soon after for 52. With 47 balls remaining, skipper Riyan Parag (14 not out) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (38 not out) brought the chase to a cool conclusion.
In the first over, Archer started by swinging the ball both ways to give Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad problems. Then, with a delivery that turned away and struck the off-stump, Nandre Burger broke through by smashing Samson for six.
In his second over, Archer returned to dismiss Gaikwad; the CSK captain backed away to get to the off-side, but he was bowled for six when he missed a straight delivery. Ayush Mhatre fell for a golden duck in the third over, gloving a bouncer to keeper Dhruv Jurel, as RR’s review led to the verdict in their favor, intensifying the collapse.
When Sarfaraz Khan entered as the impact replacement, he started his resistance by hitting Burger for four and six in a row. Brijesh Sharma, making his debut, kept the scoreboard moving after a strong performance in the fourth over where he only gave up six runs.
As CSK closed the power play at 41/4, Matthew Short, who had been having trouble getting started, immediately chipped a slower delivery right to mid-wicket for two in the last over of the power play, and Sandeep Sharma struck immediately. Following that, CSK experienced two significant setbacks: Shivam Dube was caught out to long-off, and Sarfaraz attempted a sweep off former CSK star Ravindra Jadeja but failed and was caught lbw for 17.
After Brijesh Sharma defeated Kartik’s inside edge and trapped him plumb lbw for 18, CSK’s slide persisted as Noor Ahmed edged behind to Jurel off Archer, and Ravi Bishnoi seized a beautiful caught and bowled opportunity after deceiving Matt Henry with a googly. However, Jamie Overton was run out due to a total mix-up after CSK managed to reach the 120-run barrier thanks to his hitting boundaries alongside Anshul Kamboj.
Matt Henry’s first over for RR went for 18 runs, with Sooryavanshi hitting and driving for boundaries (including Kartik Sharma dropping him for zero) and Jaiswal glancing him fine for four, giving the team a strong start.
The first ball of Khaleel Ahmed’s spell appeared to have hit Sooryavanshi lbw, but a review revealed that it had passed over leg stump. Even as Sooryavanshi kept up his onslaught in an effort to maintain the scoring momentum, Jaiswal played cautiously.
Sooryavanshi destroyed Henry’s second over by hitting a slower ball over backward point for six, and Jaiswal used his strength to drive Khaleel straight over mid-off for four. As RR passed the fifty-run mark, Sooryavanshi teased and tickled Anshul Kamboj over third man and fine leg before hitting a six over long-on, and Kamboj responded with three boundaries.
Sooryavanshi hit successive sixes over long-on to score a blistering fifty off just 15 balls, as 19 runs came off the sixth over to put RR at 74/0 at the conclusion of the powerplay. Noor Ahmad’s introduction had little effect in slowing down the onslaught.
But immediately following that, Sooryavanshi tried to flick a length ball over cover, but Sarfaraz Khan came in from the deep and executed a diving catch at deep extra cover to get rid of him for 52.
Dhruv Jurel maintained the pace with four rapid boundaries before dragging one back onto his stumps while attempting to scoop Anshul Kamboj.
Jaiswal smashed one over long-off for six before scoring the winning single to start RR’s campaign with a convincing victory, while Parag lofted and reverse-swept to get his four and six.
Brief Scores:
Chennai Super Kings 127 in 19.4 overs (Jamie Overton 43, Kartik Sharma 18; Ravindra Jadeja 2-18, Jofra Archer 2-19)
Rajasthan Royals 128/2 in 12.1 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 52, Yashasvi Jaiswal 38 not out; Anshul Kamboj 2-27)