LSG vs RR: Mohsin Khan exposes a different side of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi with a historic maiden over

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hit Josh Hazlewood for 22 runs in a single over earlier this season. He smashed two sixes off Jasprit Bumrah in the powerplay against MI. He scored 78 off 26 balls against RCB at a strike rate of 300.

He was the most feared powerplay batter in IPL 2026 and for the first four games of the season he was operating at a level that made the world’s best bowlers look ordinary.

Tonight at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, Mohsin Khan bowled him a maiden over, his first in IPL cricket, and dismissed him for 8 off 11 balls. The 15-year-old who had never been pinned down for a full six-ball over in his IPL career finally met a bowler who had done his homework and the result tells a story about where Sooryavanshi’s form is right now.

The maiden over to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi ball by ball and what Mohsin Khan did differently

Mohsin Khan came on in the fourth over of the RR innings and bowled six deliveries of disciplined left-arm fast medium that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had no answer for.

• The first ball was a good length delivery outside off and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi dabbed it down to short third man. No run.
• The second ball was back of a length on middle and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi defended back to the bowler. No run.
• The third was fullish on middle and driven down to mid-on. No run.
• The fourth had Vaibhav Sooryavanshi going back foot and tucking to the on-side. No run.
• The fifth was back of a length and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi slashed hard and got beaten on the outside edge. No run.
• The sixth was a length delivery on off, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi went to go big over the leg side, lost his shape completely and toe-ended it to cover where Digvesh Singh Rathi took a brilliant running catch to complete the wicket maiden.

The tactical plan was specific and it worked. Mohsin Khan bowled a tight line just outside off stump at 140 kilometers per hour plus using his height to extract extra bounce and forcing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi into a defensive shell for the first time in his IPL career.

Vaibhav could not free his arms. He could not find the boundary. And when he tried to force the issue on the final ball he played the kind of mistimed shot that comes from a batter who has spent five balls outside his comfort zone looking for a release.

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The slump in numbers and what has changed in the last three games

Statistical shift in Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s season is significant. In his first four games he scored 200 runs at a strike rate of 266 with an average of 50. His scores read 52 off 17 against CSK, 31 off 18 against GT, 39 off 14 against MI and 78 off 26 against RCB.

Sooryavanshi was ending games in the powerplay and his boundary percentage in those four innings was around 85 percent of all runs scored. Bowlers across the competition had no consistent answer for him.

In the last three games the numbers look completely different. A golden duck against SRH caught behind in the first ball. Forty six off 28 against KKR at a strike rate of 164 which was his slowest knock before tonight.

And now 8 off 11 against LSG at a strike rate of 72.73 including the first maiden over of his IPL life. Three games, 54 runs, strike rate of 135, average of 18. The bowlers have found something and tonight Mohsin Khan applied it most precisely.

The contrast between the first four games and the last three is the difference between a 15-year-old who was playing without fear or consequence and a 15-year-old who is now playing against bowling attacks that have specifically prepared for him.

Maiden over is not the end of anything. It is a test of temperament and how Sooryavanshi responds in the next game will say more about what kind of player he becomes than any of the sixes he hit off Bumrah and Hazlewood.