With his 26-ball knock of 78 runs against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Rajasthan Royals’ opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashed his second half-century of this IPL season. The 15-year-old opener, who became the youngest player in IPL history to score a century in the previous edition, hit eight boundaries and seven sixes during his stay at the crease, guiding the Royals to a six-wicket win over the Bengaluru side.
Earlier in the league, Sooryavanshi had smashed Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah for two sixes during his 39-run knock against Mumbai Indians. In the match against Bengaluru, he took on Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood for one six and four boundaries, in addition to hitting two sixes and three boundaries off Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes Sooryavanshi deliberately targets the opposition’s premier bowlers.
“I think he targets the big bowlers of the opposition team purposely. He wants to target those big bowlers so that all the plans of the opposition team go down the ashtray. So yes, I think he wants to take on all the big bowlers,” Pathan told JioHotstar after the match.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru had posted 201 for 8 in their 20 overs, with Rajat Patidar playing a knock of 63 runs. The Bengaluru side was once struggling at 125 for 7 before Patidar and Impact Player Venkatesh Iyer ensured they crossed the 200-run mark. Chasing the target, Sooryavanshi exploded from the start, amassing 78 runs in 26 balls. Before being dismissed by Krunal Pandya in the ninth over, the 15-year-old had hit eight boundaries and seven sixes. Wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel then played a knock of 81 runs – his highest score in IPL – to guide the Royals home. Jurel also spoke about Sooryavanshi’s impact and how it made his own task easier.
“The way Vaibhav batted and the way Yashasvi Jaiswal also bats, they make it feel easy for us and give us confidence. We just cannot believe how someone can hit the ball like that. We think we cannot hit the ball like that. He is a great talent. The best thing is to not say anything to him, and we feel good that he is in our team,” Jurel said in the post-match presentation.
In the rain-curtailed match against Mumbai Indians in Guwahati, the Royals scored 151 runs in 11 overs. During his 14-ball knock of 39 runs, Sooryavanshi welcomed Jasprit Bumrah with a six in the second over before launching him for another six in the same over. The 15-year-old hit five sixes and one boundary in his innings. Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar hailed Sooryavanshi’s batting and the way he handled Bumrah.
“It was absolutely fantastic to watch. I’m a Mumbai Indians supporter, so in a way I wouldn’t have enjoyed it, but for the fact that it was such a young kid, 15 years old, playing against the best bowler in all formats of the game,” Gavaskar said on JioHotstar.
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