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Rajasthan Royals' 15-year-old sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has spent IPL 2026 terrorising bowlers and mesmerising viewers. While his sixes undoubtedly make for great entertainment, the bowlers have all been dreading facing him.
Sooryavanshi's hitting range was in full view on Sunday when he made 46 runs in 21 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes against the Delhi Capitals. Even though RR lost the match, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi walked away with praise.
Rajasthan Royals slip to three losses in a row
In Delhi on Sunday, Vaibhav's perfect start, or his 70-run partnership with Dhruv Jurel, was not enough for RR. Jurel and RR skipper Riyan Parag both got fifties, but Mitchell Starc struck back in the fifteenth over.
Starc took three wickets in that over, including Parag's, and RR slipped from 161/2 to a final score of 193/8 in the space of five overs. Starc added Shanaka to his list of victims in the penultimate over.
Abhishek Porel and KL Rahul both got fifties and put up an opening stand of 105. But DC's middle order wasn't quite up to the task yet. Skipper Axar Patel held through even though wickets fell around him, putting up stands of 20 with Tristan Stubbs and 22 with David Miller, respectively. Ashutosh Sharma then played a brilliant cameo to close out the chase for DC.
"I will try to get his wicket anyhow" - Harbhajan Singh
Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh shared his strategy for how he would have bowled to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Harbhajan said that the best strategy would be to keep spinning the ball away from his hitting arc. He then went on to compare the teenager to T20 legend Chris Gayle.
Speaking on JioHotstar, Harbhajan said, "Against Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, I would plan to get his wicket anyhow. But what kind of form he is in matters a lot. I would plan to spin the ball and keep it away from his hitting arc. If he steps out of the crease and tries to hit me, that's okay. But I don't want him to play his shots while standing in the crease. That would be my bowling plan."
"But the kind of batter he is, at the age of 15, he is hitting every bowler for a six. I have played with many players, but I have never seen a batter like Sooryavanshi who dominates every bowler from ball one. I have dismissed Chris Gayle many times, but Sooryavanshi is at a different level altogether. His bat flow is something I have never seen," he added.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in IPL 2026
In IPL 2026, Sooryavanshi has been extremely impressive and has commendably not suffered from any cases of second-season blues despite his age. This year, he is sixth on the Orange Cap list with 486 runs to his name from 12 matches.
He is also his team's highest run-scorer so far. His runs have come at an average of 40.50 and a mind-blowing strike rate of 234.78. The Southpaw has also made 2 fifties and a century this year. His 43 sixes are also the most in the tournament.
