Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Afghan ruler and the founder of the Durrani dynasty, did not approve of Suraj Mai’s increasing power and had his eye on the latter’s enormous wealth. On the other hand, Suraj Mai, the ruler of Bharatpur kingdom, had earlier enraged Abdali by not accepting his summons to pay tribute and also by providing refuge to his enemies when Abdali was plundering Delhi. Suraj Mai always dealt Abdali’s plea very tactfully and Abdali was waiting for the appropriate time to vent out his pent up 'anger.'

The conflict between Ahmad Shah Abdali and Suraj Mai erupted when the Marathas drove the Afghans across the Indus by the 1756 and included Punjab within their territory. The cut-throat rivalry between Wazir Ghaziuddin and the Amir-ul-umra Najib-ud-daula resulted in the Najib looking for protection to Abdali and conspiring with him and on the other hand Ghaziuddin made peace with Raja Suraj Mai. In order to punish Ghaziuddin, Abdali rapidly marched towards Delhi When the news of his advancement reached Delhi, most of the people including Antaji Mankeshwar and Imad sent their to places like Mathura and Deeg which were under Suraj Mai and were abode of peace in those troubled times. Abdali’s arrival at Delhi resulted in the surrender of Ghaziuddin, who had to pay one crore rupees and lose the office of Wazir. Abdali having settled all his business in Delhi began his southward march for exacting tribute from Suraj Mai.

Suraj Mai’s son Jawahar Singh attacked and defeated an Afghan foraging party in the neighbourhood of Faridabad and Ballabhgarh. Abdali was extremely enraged and decided to conquer Ballabhgarh right away. In a combat that followed the Ballabhgarh fort was taken over by Abdali on March 3rd 1757. He further ordered Amir-ul-umra Najib-ud-daula and his celebrated general Jahan Khan to devastate the whole of Jat kingdom especially Mathura which is a holy city and as per his knowledge Suraj Mai was there in Mathura. But before they could get to Mathura they were obliged to face ten thousand spirited Jats at Chaumuha, eight miles north of the holy city under the leadership of Jawahar Singh. The Jats were determined that it was only over their corpses that the invading ravager should enter their domain and offered a desperate resistance to the Afghans on February 28, 1757. But the city of Mathura was ultimately massacred after a few months during the time of Holi. A terrible treatment was meted out to its citizens and pilgrims and that year Holi was played afresh by the Durranis with the blood of the Hindus. Now Abdali’s plan was to progress towards Agra and then capture the Jat forts of Bharatpur, Kumher and Deeg and compel Raja Suraj Mai to pay a huge tribute.

Abdali’s forces plundered and ransacked Agra but at this stage his luck ran out. An epidemic of cholera broke out in the Durrani army camp with one hundred and fifty soldiers dying every day. The war-weary and cholera-terrified soldiers longed to return to Afghanistan and their fighting spirits were dampened. Bound by circumstances, Abdali made up his mind to march back to his country. Abdali sent two envoys with a threatening letter to Suraj Mai for payment of tribute. He had rather rashly hinted in his letter that the forts of Bharatpur, Deeg and Kumher would be demolished to the ground. Earlier Suraj Mai had promised to pay five lakh rupees to the Abdali and a gift of two lakhs to his minister. The forced early departure of Abdali from Delhi ensured that even this small money was never paid. In a reply to Abdali's threat Suraj Mai wrote a letter where he made it clear that he was not made up of soft stuff. On account of a rich treasury, strong forts, an abundant army and large quantities of war material, Suraj Mai did not leave his place and prepared himself for an extended war but soon Abdali withdrew his forces and the Jat kingdom was freed of its enemies.

Ahmad Shah’s campaign was a failure from the military point of view. Suraj Mai's strength remained almost unimpaired and only two or three undefended towns were captured and the civilian population massacred. Deeg and Bharatpur were not taken and Abdali's dream to draw out Suraj Mai and make him fight remained unfulfilled. Even the money that Suraj Mai was supposed to pay to the Afghan ruler as a tribute for not advancing upon Kumher was ultimately not given. By all accounts Suraj Mai was now the wealthiest and the most competent ruler in Hindustan.