A new day, but the same Vaibhav Sooryavanshi blitz. The Rajasthan Royals’ opening batter continued from where he left off against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Eliminator. However, the 15-year-old once again missed out on the three-figure mark as he was dismissed for 96 against the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 in Mullanpur on Friday. The left-hander, who has dismantled bowling attacks throughout the season, displayed a second gear as he bided his time against the attack comprising Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kagiso Rabada and Jason Holder.
Sooryavanshi registered his slowest fifty of his IPL career, getting to the landmark in 31 balls. However, he accelerated from here on, scoring 45 more runs in the next 16 balls. His innings was studded with eight fours and seven sixes.
Owing to this knock, Sooryavanshi also became the fastest Indian batter to surpass the 1000-run mark in IPL, going past Sai Sudharsan, who took 25 innings to register the same milestone. He took 23 innings to achieve the milestone. Moreover, he also became the youngest batter to score more than 1000 runs in the IPL. In terms of balls faced, Sooryavanshi is the fastest to the 1000 run mark, scoring this number of runs in just 440 balls.
Sooryavanshi also rode his luck as he was dropped by Sai Sudharsan off the bowling of Prasidh Krishna. However, this knock against the Gujarat Titans displayed the character of the youngster as the left-hander showed the world he isn’t a one-trick pony. The left-hander showed the world that he isn’t just slam-bang and can take his team through the difficult phases.
It is worth noting that just a couple of days back, Sooryavanshi missed a century against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator, scoring 97 runs off 29 balls.
Gavaskar’s assessment
When Sooryavanshi lost his wicket, former India captain and legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar identified one weakness in the youngster’s game, saying the left-hander is susceptible to short bowling in the nervous 90s.
“All the bowlers would be saying, ‘We’ve found a weakness’. Bowl a short ball when he’s in the 90s. Earlier, it won’t work. If he’s in the 90s, bowl a short ball, keep a deep third, and you’ll get him out,” Gavaskar said on air.
With this 96-run knock, Sooryavanshi further consolidated his position at the top of the Orange Cap leaderboard with 776 runs to his name in 16 matches.
Sooryavanshi’s knock was the main reason the Royals posted a competitive total. After opting to bat, the Riyan Parag-led side scored 214/6 in the 20 overs. Sooryavanshi’s innings received further support from Ravindra Jadeja and Donovan Ferreira, who scored 45* and 38*, respectively.
