He might have failed to score his third fifty in IPL 2026, in the match against KKR on Sunday, but the enigma named Vaibhav Sooryavanshi continues to enhance his reputation. The reputation of being the best powerplay batter this season, as he blasted his way to 46 from 28, before falling to Varun Chakravarthy. Interestingly, he went on to get 38 from 21 in the powerplay, that took Rajasthan Royals to 63/0 in 6 overs, and laid the foundation of a massive score.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi better than the best?
Yes, one might not give this innings a lot of thought, with Sooryavanshi having done so much better than this earlier; but it is his consistency, and the rate at which he tends to get his runs, which is the most admirable. At 15, he is making standards, which might be tough for himself to surpass in future, let alone the others.
So, on what basis do we call him the ‘best batter in powerplay, in IPL 2026’? Is it the runs or the strike-rate? Well, it is a combination of both. As per the stats, Sooryavanshi now has 217 runs alone in PP, and a strike rate of 256, well clear of some of the legends in the game. That also includes 23 fours and 18 sixes in the period, again miles ahead of the others in the list.
Mind you, this is after he got out for a duck in the last match against SRH; but his performance has been so good against others, that his numbers haven’t taken much of a hit. Talking about others, Virat Kohli comes in the second position, with 161 runs in 6 innings, and his strike rate is considerably lower at 173. Sixes hit are only at 4.
Even power-hitters like Abhishek Sharma and Priyansh Arya lag behind in the race. The SRH opener has 157 runs in PP this season, whereas his SR is 253. While Arya has managed to score only 112 runs and his SR is 243. Coming back to Sooryavanshi, teams have still not figured out a way to tackle him, and the batter has gone on to score two 15-ball fifties in the season, the quickest this year.
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