Eden diary: Rajasthan Royals spoil KKR fans' hopes early with play-offs entry

There was a renewed energy among the 32,000-strong crowd at the Eden Gardens on the day of Kolkata Knight Riders’ last home match of IPL 2026 season — all hoping against hope for a possible shot at the remaining play-off spot.

However, reality bit them hard within the first four overs of their match against Delhi Capitals as Rajasthan Royals kept their date with the last spot in top four when they upstaged a demoralised Mumbai Indians by 30 runs in the afternoon game in Mumbai.

The play-offs schedule is now as follows: champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru are in line for an encore as they face off a consistent Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 at Dharamsala on 26 May (Tuesday) while Royals will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator at New Chandigarh the next day (27 May, Wednesday). The Qualifier 2 between the losers of Qualifier 1 and winner of Eliminator will be held on 29 May (New Chandigarh) while the final will be held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on 31 May.

When the final day of league action began on Sunday, as many as three teams were in running to join the top three: Royals (14 points), Punjab Kings (15) and KKR (13).

Riyan Parag’s men managed to shape their own fortunes at MI’s fortress Wankhede, which meant them going up to 16 points – which put the issue beyond the reach of PBKS and KKR.

The Knights, who stayed in the hunt till the last day thanks to an exceptional team performance at the backend of the tournament, will rue their disastrous start to the season when they went without a win in first six matches (the only point coming via an abandoned game against PBKS).

KL Rahul, the Capitals veteran, meanwhile entertained the crowd with a breezy 60 off 30 balls after the Capitals were sent in by Ajinkya Rahane in a dead rubber for all practical purposes.    

Rare off day for Vaibhav

It was a rare off day for Vaibhav Suryavanshi on Sunday when he fell for four – but it did not deter youthful Royals to post a challenging 205 for eight. A fighting 38 by Dhruv Jurel and an all round performance by Joffra Archer (32 runs off 15 balls and 3/17) paved their way to subdue the five-time champions at home and prevent any twist in the tale.

 There was some good news for Royals camp when Head Coach Kumar Sangakkara, while speaking to the broadcasters, confirmed that the England express bowler will be available for the full duration of IPL ahead of their Test series against England at home.