Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Chris Gayle
New Delhi: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi lit up the IPL 2026 knockout with a stunning knock against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals bowler smashed 97 runs off just 29 balls, including a massive 12, helping his side register a dominant 47-run victory and move into the second qualifier. Although he missed a century, his bold batting caught the attention of cricket fans and legends around the world.
Chris Gayle, whose long-standing IPL record of most sixes in a single season was broken by Sooryavanshi, praised the youngster after he hit 65 sixes in the tournament, surpassing Gayle’s tally of 59 since 2015. “What an exceptional player Vaibhav. Great entertaining young man! New Six machine,” Gayle wrote.
After the match, Suryavanshi revealed that he was not thinking about personal achievements during his explosive innings.
“I knew it after the match,” he said when asked about narrowly missing out on the fastest IPL hundred by a whisker. “My focus was to score sixes. I will score centuries in the future, but the focus was to score maximum runs for the team,” he added.India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav also praised the brave teenager’s batting. “Chin up boy. What an amazing role, it took everyone’s breath away,” Suriya wrote on X, calling him a future star.
While Sooryavanshi grabbed the headlines, Jofra Archer played a key role with the ball. The English player rocked SRH early by dismissing Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Ishan Kishan during the power play. Chasing a huge target, Hyderabad never recovered from those early knocks and were bowled out for 196 in 19.2 overs. Rajasthan Royals will now take on Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 for a place in the IPL final.
