Teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hit 97 off 29 balls, smashing 12 sixes—including three straight off Pat Cummins—to steer Rajasthan Royals to victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL eliminator. For a 15-year-old, the night carried both heartbreak and
By the time Vaibhav Sooryavanshi walked off after his dismissal in the eighth over, the crowd had already learned his rhythm. The teenage sensation had moved like a man hunting a record, striking 97 from just 29 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL eliminator.
The fireworks started early—and kept landing. Sooryavanshi struck 12 sixes, including three in a row off Australia captain Pat Cummins. After finding the boundary off seven balls in succession. he went looking for Chris Gayle’s record for the fastest IPL century. He was close, but not close enough. Caught at deep third attempting an upper cut, his chase ended with a number that still felt unreal.
He had reached 50 in 16 balls, and the next phase looked made for a breakthrough—then came the dismissal. In the middle, he looked crestfallen. The moment could have turned sour. It didn’t.
Opponents came over and congratulated him anyway, and when the crowd sensed they were watching something special, it rose into a standing ovation. It wasn’t just about the run-scoring; it was about how he carried the moment—confidence, momentum, and then the brief fall into disappointment.
At the same point in the game. Rajasthan Royals were 125-1 after eight overs. with opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal—an India international across formats—on 25 from 20 balls at the other end. That’s the picture of the innings Sooryavanshi built: a fast platform. enormous power. and enough time for the chase to tilt.
His knock also moved him to the top of this year’s run-scorers’ list in the IPL. And the details kept stacking. In the fourth over, his seventh six broke the record for the most sixes in an IPL season—a mark previously held by former West Indies international Chris Gayle with 59.
On commentary, India legend Sunil Gavaskar summed up what the crowd had just seen: “What an innings. What a player.” He added, “That is an innings to remember. An innings to savour.”
Cummins, who had absorbed three straight sixes from Sooryavanshi, didn’t try to pretend it was anything other than a narrow margin. “The margins are so small,” he said. “You miss your yorker by a little bit and he doesn’t tend to miss them. Fair play.”
Rajasthan’s path in the eliminator was secured with Sooryavanshi’s 97 setting the tone, even as his personal milestones came with a bittersweet edge. On a night built for records, he didn’t just stun—he briefly owned the game, then left it to others to finish the story.
IPL 2026 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Rajasthan Royals Sunrisers Hyderabad eliminator Pat Cummins Chris Gayle record Yashasvi Jaiswal Sunil Gavaskar run-scorers list