HYDERABAD — Rajat Patidar returned to lead Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL 2026 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on May 22, 2026, after missing the previous fixture against Punjab Kings. Both teams had already secured their spots in the playoffs before the match. Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bat first.

Cummins spoke about his team's campaign ahead of the fixture. "Yeah, it's been really pleasing to get the qualification before this last game. The guys have been really consistent all year. So, yeah, this one is probably the last one before we start getting really serious," he said.

Cummins also commented on the home support his side had received. "They've been amazing here at Uppal. All the streets have been lined, the hotel's been busy the last few days. Yeah, we've won pretty much every night game here this season as well," he said.

Patidar, returning to the captaincy, addressed his team's mindset heading into the fixture. "Wherever we go, we feel like it's a home game for us. It doesn't matter where you are, you have to maintain your standards every game. You have to tick a lot of boxes," he said.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Playing XI featured Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Venkatesh Iyer, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma and Rasikh Salam Dar. The Impact substitutes named were Tim David, Kanishk Chouhan, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh and Jordan Cox.

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Playing XI featured Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (captain), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga and Sakib Hussain. The Impact substitutes named were Praful Hinge, Aniket Verma, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey and Harshal Patel.