Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad are preparing to lock horns in the Eliminator on Wednesday at the PCA New Cricket Stadium. A victory here will keep the dream alive, but the road to Ahmedabad is still far from complete. The winning side must survive one more battle in Qualifier 2 against the loser of Qualifier 1 (Gujarat Titans) to secure a place in the final.

Talking about Sunrisers Hyderabad, this season has been a remarkable run of dominance for them. Kicking off the tournament quietly, SRH gradually picked up the pace to transform into one of the most dangerous teams. Their campaign stumbled early, with three defeats in the opening four matches. However, SRH bounced back nicely, making a brilliant mid-season turnaround with five consecutive victories. That winning momentum took them into the top four, narrowly missing out on a top-two finish due to net run rate. A crushing 82-run defeat against Gujarat Titans damaged their NRR, forcing them to settle for third place on the table.

Rajasthan Royals, meanwhile, have taken a far more challenging route to the playoffs. They began their campaign in dominant fashion with four successive wins. However, inconsistency suddenly hit them hard as they suffered six defeats in their next eight matches. Still, RR managed to find their fighting spirit. Back-to-back victories in their final league games revived their campaign in spectacularly. They successfully chased 221 against Lucknow Super Giants and defended 205 against Mumbai Indians, showing their prowess in all departments. Now, it's a do-or-die battle for both teams because a mistake would put an end to their campaign. 

Head-to-head

Matches - 23

RR won - 9

SRH won - 14

RR Probable XII: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Dasun Shanaka, Donovan Ferreira, Jofra Archer, Shubham Dubey, Ravindra Jadeja/Ravi Bishnoi, Nandre Burger, Yash Raj Punja, Brijesh Sharma

SRH Probable XII: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Smaran Ravichandran, Pat Cummins (c), Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel/Praful Hinge, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain