Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowling lineup has made a few headlines this season in the 2026 Indian Premier League but Rajasthan Royals’ teenaged sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made a mockery of them in the early exchanges of the Eliminator between the two sides on Wednesday. Sooryavanshi blasted a barrage of sixes with every SRH bowler, including captain Pat Cummins, bearing the brunt. Overall, the teenager hit as many as 12 sixes and five fours.
In the process, he broke Chris Gayle’s 14-year-old record for sixes hit in an IPL season. Gayle had hit 59 maximums in the 2012 season of the IPL. Sooryavanshi had started on 53 sixes before the start of the match. Even before the end of the first 10 overs of the matc, the teenager had gone past it.
He eventually fell on 97 off 29 balls at a ridiculous strike rate of 334.48. Sooryavanshi was just inches away from breaking another of Gayle’s records – that of the fastest IPL century. Gayle had got there in 30 balls in his seminal knock of 175 for RCB against Pune Warriors India in the 2013 season.
Sooryavanshi’s onslaught allowed RR to take 80 runs in the powerplay. Out of this, only 19 runs had been scored off 18 balls by Sooryavanshi’s partner Yashasvi Jaiswal.