Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins has set an unambiguous tone ahead of the IPL 2026 playoffs, declaring that his side will lean into aggression rather than caution as they attempt to win three consecutive knockout games to reclaim the title. Speaking ahead of Wednesday's Eliminator against Rajasthan Royals at the New International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh, Cummins said the team's mindset would be to attack, not protect.

Cummins Sets the Playoff Mindset

'I think you want to keep a lot of things similar to what got you into the finals. But there's also a bit more pressure, a few more nerves, so you want to acknowledge that,' Cummins said in an interview with JioStar. 'I always like to think, how are you going to look back on that game with no regrets? So, that's always kind of my mentality going into a final.'

He was emphatic on the team's approach: 'Instead of being more conservative, try and be even more aggressive. We have got to win three in a row to win it. We've won more than that throughout the season — we won five in a row at one stage, so it's possible.'

SRH's Historic Eliminator Pedigree

Sunrisers Hyderabad remain the only franchise in IPL history to win the title after entering the playoffs through the Eliminator, achieving that feat during their 2016 title run. That precedent lends weight to Cummins' confidence. The side completed a league-phase double over Rajasthan Royals this season, though the skipper was measured about how much that counts for on Wednesday.

'You're obviously starting from scratch again, but you do take learnings from previous games. We've played them twice. We've had a good look at a lot of their players. A lot of our guys can look back at those games where they've had success and lean on that heading into the finals. So, it's always nice coming up against a team that you've had some success against,' he said.

The Vaibhav Suryavanshi Problem

A significant part of SRH's planning centres on Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who has been Rajasthan Royals' standout batter in IPL 2026, accumulating 583 runs in 14 matches at an average of 41.64 and a strike rate of 232.27 — numbers that make him one of the most destructive openers in the tournament.

Cummins acknowledged the challenge but pointed to moments of control in their earlier meetings. 'It's always a balance of, as a bowler, understanding what you do well and how you're going to bowl to your strengths. But when there are probably one or two players in every lineup who can take the game away from the opposition, you do spend a little bit longer working on a Plan B or Plan C,' he said.

'So, yeah, we'll plan for him. Even though he got a hundred against us last time, I thought there were times when we actually bowled quite well to him and kept him quiet. At other times, he got away from us. So, we'll learn from that,' the SRH skipper added.

What's at Stake

A loss on Wednesday ends SRH's campaign. A win keeps alive the prospect of a second IPL title — and a second time writing the Eliminator-to-champion story. Cummins' framing of the challenge as winnable, not just survivable, signals that Sunrisers Hyderabad will arrive at New Chandigarh looking to set the tempo from ball one.