Pressure? What pressure? That’s what Vaibhav Sooryavanshi must’ve been thinking ahead of the Eliminator in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Without a shadow of a doubt, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) vs Rajasthan Royals (RR) match in Mullanpur was the biggest game the 15-year-old has featured in his short career. But Sooryavanshi was unbothered. Perhaps the exuberance of youth worked in his favour.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s six storm takes over Mullanpur
Before the clash, SRH captain Pat Cummins had stated that the bowlers are preparing multiple plans to tackle Sooryavanshi. Cummins opened the bowling and bowled two yorkers against him. It was a peculiar tactic. But the margin of error was high. On the last ball of the first over, Cummins erred, and Sooryavanshi smashed him down the ground for the first six of the match.
Whatever plan SRH had concocted was out of the window immediately. Cummins returned and was taken to the cleaners. 25 runs came off the over as Sooryavanshi smashed 3 consecutive sixes to become the youngest player to score 600 runs in an IPL season and the first to record the number of runs at a strike rate of 200 or over. But Sooryavanshi wasn’t going to stay quiet. With a six over covers, he broke Chris Gayle’s 14-year record of hitting the most sixes in the season.
Most sixes in an IPL season
- 60* – Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (2026)
- 59 – Chris Gayle (2012)
- 52 – Andre Russell (2019)
- 51 – Chris Gayle (2013)
- 45 – Jos Buttler (2022)
On the last ball of the 4th over, Sooryavanshi smashed a swivel pull six off Sakib Hussain to register the joint-fastest fifty in IPL Playoffs history, levelling Suresh Raina’s 12-year record. SRH knew yorkers and full tosses were his only weaknesses and targeted those, but as Mike Tyson’s famous saying goes, ‘Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.’
When SRH erred by just an inch here or there, and Sooryavanshi hit them into the stands, the bowler’s brain went haywire, and so did the plans. Mind you, even a legend of the game like Cummins had no idea. You can’t even fault them. When a prodigy like him plays, you just sit back and watch. If you are lucky, he gives you a catch, and when he does, you’ve got to take it.
Fastest fifty in IPL knockouts/Playoffs (by balls)
- 16 – Suresh Raina vs PBKS, Wankhede, 2014
- 16 – Vaibhav Sooryavanshi vs SRH, Mullanpur, 2026*
- 17 – Adam Gilchrist vs DC, Centurion, 2009
- 20 – MS Dhoni vs MI, Bengaluru, 2012
- 21 – Dwayne Smith vs CSK, Delhi, 2013
The demolition didn’t stop after the powerplay. After 6 overs, Sooryavanshi was 60 off 20. His strike was 300. It might sound insane, but his intent actually increased after the fielders went to the boundary. He took down Sakib, his Bihar teammate, in the 7th over, targetting the backward square leg region.
In the 8th over, he almost got to his hundred. 6, 4, 4, 6, 6 was the sequence of Praful Hinge’s second over of the day. The bowler was feeling the heat and even bowled a no-ball. Batting at 97 off 28, Sooryavanshi was one hit away from scoring the fastest IPL hundred.
But on the last ball, Hinge’s short ball worked, and he edged the ball to Smaran Ravichandran at third man. Every SRH player patted him on the back, and the crowd stood up to applaud, but Sooryavanshi was disappointed and didn’t want to walk away. It’s tough to imagine how, even after scoring 97 off 29, with a strike rate of 334.48, one can be upset. But we don’t possess the talent that Sooryavanshi does.
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