Rajasthan Royals produced one of their best performances of IPL 2026 under pressure as they knocked Sunrisers Hyderabad out of the tournament and moved into Qualifier 2. While RR impressed as a team, it was once again young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi who grabbed all the attention with another explosive innings in the Eliminator on Wednesday.
The 15-year-old opener played fearless cricket from the start and completely changed the momentum of the game with his aggressive batting. His stunning knock helped Rajasthan Royals put up a huge total before the bowlers finished the job with a convincing 47-run win.
Vaibhav misses fastest IPL century record
Sooryavanshi smashed 97 runs from just 29 balls, hammering 12 sixes and five boundaries at a strike rate of more than 330. The teenager came close to breaking the record for the fastest century in IPL history but eventually fell short by only three runs.
After the match, Vaibhav admitted that he was not even aware of the record during his innings.
“I got to know after the game,” he said at the post-match presentation when asked about missing the record of fastest IPL hundred.
“My focus was on hitting a six. I will score centuries in future but the focus was on getting maximum runs for the team. I just work on my plan and if there are any shortcomings, I just try to work on that.”
Chris Gayle’s sixes record broken
Even though he missed the hundred, the RR opener still created history during the innings by going past Chris Gayle’s record for the most sixes in a single IPL season.
Vaibhav now has 65 sixes in IPL 2026, breaking Gayle’s long-standing record from the 2012 season.
The young batter also explained how he prepares before matches and studies bowlers carefully.
“I try to just analyse how to face the bowlers, judge the length of the boundaries. When I am showing good intent, the bowler is under pressure.“
“We have won so we will celebrate and try and do well in the next game. I don’t think much about the bowlers, try to just play my game.”
Riyan Parag reveals RR’s approach with Vaibhav
Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag said the team management prefers giving Vaibhav freedom instead of putting extra pressure on him.
“We don’t have any conversations; just leave him alone. We give him a lot of batting practice and he does his thing.”
Parag also felt Rajasthan could have scored even more runs despite posting a massive total.
“I like to be a perfectionist, but even today we should have got 260, right? But with the ball we were impressive, held our own. It was a good performance under pressure.“
The RR skipper added that the pressure of must-win games has actually helped the team raise its level.
“You could say that. It also brings out the best among people. Everyone has turned up more in these last two games.”
The post ‘Just leave him…’: Riyan Parag Opens Up On Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s Fearless Batting appeared first on Cricket Country.
