The Rajasthan Royals inflicted the Punjab Kings' first defeat of the 2026 Indian Premier League season, as they earned a huge six-wicket win in New Chandigarh on Tuesday. 

Despite Marcus Stoinis' late flurry with the bat, where he plundered 62 from 22 balls to propel the Kings to 222-4, Rajasthan chased down their target with four balls remaining. 

Punjab made an ideal start through Priyansh Arya (29) and Prabhsimran Singh (59), before the former was caught by Nandre Burger from Jofra Archer's fast delivery. 

Prabhsimran reached his 12th IPL half-century before being dismissed in the 14th over by Yash Raj Punja (2-41), having seen Cooper Connolly (30) sent on his way earlier on. 

That allowed Stoinis to take control at the crease as he struck 24 off the final five balls to hand the Royals a target of 223, though they set about reaching that total quickly. 

Strong hitting from teenage sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi (43), with the help of Yashasvi Jaiswal (51) and Dhruv Jurel (16), helped Rajasthan finish the powerplay at an impressive 84-1. 

And though Jaiswal and Jurel fell to Yuzvendra Chahal (3-36), Donovan Ferreira and Shubham Dubey steered the Royals to victory, with their respective unbeaten scores of 52 and 31 earning Rajasthan their sixth win of the season. 

Impact Dubey x Finisher Don is a good combo pic.twitter.com/Etjz7ees2i

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 28, 2026

Data Debrief: Vaibhav leads the way for the Orange cap

Vaibhav continues to break new ground so early in his career, and his knock of 43 from just 16 deliveries, which included three fours and five maximums, took him to the top of the run-scoring standings. 

The 15-year-old overtook Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma (380) to become the leading run-scorer in the IPL this season. He currently sits on 400 in just 168 balls, at a barely believable strike rate of 238.09.

He took just 167 balls to reach the milestone, which is the fastest 400 runs in an IPL season for any batter (in terms of balls faced).