Midway through his innings, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi didn’t realize how close he’d come to an IPL milestone. The Rajasthan Royals player smashed runs freely versus Sunrisers Hyderabad under evening lights. His explosive batting lit up the 2026 Eliminator clash. Time slipped by without him noticing the pace of his hundred. Only later did someone mention the near-record feat.

A blistering 97 from the 15-year-old came in only 29 balls, lighting up the field with 12 towering sixes along with five crisp fours – strike rate soaring to 334.48. That ferocious knock pushed Rajasthan Royals towards a dominant win by 47 runs against SRH, sealing their spot in Qualifier 2, where they will meet Gujarat Titans.

“My Focus Was Only on Hitting Sixes”, says Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

Three runs less of a hundred, Sooryavanshi made headlines anyway – surpassing Chris Gayle’s mark for the most sixes in one IPL season. His 65 big hits during IPL 2026 rewrote the record books.

After the match ended, someone asked Sooryavanshi about not getting the quickest IPL century. He replied that he found out later during the prize event.
“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 try to improve them.”
Batting without fear, the young player opened up on how he gets ready. His approach was staying calm under pressure, focusing only on what comes next.

“I try to analyze how to face the bowlers and judge the boundary dimensions. When I show good intent, the bowler is under pressure,” he said.

“We have won, so we will celebrate and try to do well in the next game. I don’t think much about the bowlers, I just try to play my game.”
Young star earns praise from RR skipper Riyan Parag, who shares that the coaching staff keeps advice light on purpose.

“We don’t have many conversations with him; we just leave him alone. We give him a lot of batting practice, and he does his thing,” Riyan Parag said.

Even after RR put up a huge score, Parag said they might’ve squeezed out extra runs. A big number on the board didn’t ease his sense of missed chances. He saw room for growth, even in success. The innings felt full, yet somehow incomplete. Something lingered beneath the surface of that tally. High as it was, it didn’t feel like the ceiling.
“I like to be a perfectionist, but even today we should have got 260, right. But with the ball, we were impressive and held our own. It was a good performance under pressure.”

Under pressure from back-to-back do-or-die games, Parag noticed something shift. The team started moving differently. Each match tightened its focus like a wire pulled tight. Moments that demanded victory seemed to sharpen them. Instead of breaking under weight, they rose. He saw it in how they held themselves before kickoff. In the quiet between plays. It wasn’t luck – it was response. Pressure didn’t crush them; it shaped them.
“You could say that. It also brings out the best in people. Everyone has stepped up in these last two games.”

On Jofra Archer’s fiery spell, Parag added, “We keep having banter. He is one of the best, if not the best, in T20 cricket bowling at 150 clicks.”
After ending up with stats of 3/58, Archer kept quiet about how well he did.
“I bowled alright,” Archer said.

“Usually, the team that gets the most wickets in the powerplay wins, and we did that. Against SRH’s batting lineup, even your good balls and bad balls can disappear to the boundary, so you just have to hang in there.”

Outstanding knock by Sooryavanshi drew strong admiration from the England bowler.
“It was very exciting. The more runs he scores, the more runs we have to defend. He can get 150,” Archer said.
Asked about silencing the young RR batsman, Archer grinned and said he’d share his secret once the IPL wraps up.

A string of quick dismissals slowed things down, said Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins, as they chased runs.
“A few things had to go right while chasing 245, but we lost a couple of wickets at the wrong time,” Cummins said.
“We were one tiny bit away from finishing in the top two, but I can’t doubt the boys’ effort.”
Bright under clear skies, Pat Cummins still saw Sooryavanshi shine with the bat.

“He played really well. It was a very good pitch, but the margins are very small. You miss your yorker and he doesn’t miss.”
Even after losing, the Australia captain spoke highly of Hyderabad’s younger team members.
“Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain were great. We are one of the youngest teams to make the playoffs and the coaching staff has unearthed a few gems,” he added.