It was a case of being so close yet so far. For the second game in a row, Rajasthan Royals opening batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi missed out on a century. After smashing 97 runs in the Eliminator against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, the 15-year-old backed this performance up with another 96 runs against the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 in Mullanpur. The stage was set for Sooryavanshi to smash his third Indian Premier League (IPL) century and second of the 2026 edition. However, it wasn’t meant to be, as a short delivery once again led to his downfall.
Sooryavanshi, whose knock was studded with eight fours and seven maximums, was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada on the second delivery of the 18th over. His dismissal was all too similar to the previous game against the Sunrisers, as he was once again caught at the third man.
Rabada bowled a short delivery outside off, and Sooryavanshi attempted an upper cut, and in the end, Prasidh Krishna got under the call for a safe catch. The left-hander trudged off the field, but he did get a rousing reception from the entire Mullanpur stadium.
Once Sooryavanshi made his way to the Rajasthan Royals dugout, the cameras picked up an interaction between the youngster and skipper Riyan Parag. Social media has now gone into overdrive, speculating on why the Rajasthan Royals captain was so animated in his discussion with the opening batter.
The cameras captured Parag speaking to Sooryavanshi, with the youngster looking lost for words as he continued drinking water from the bottle. This wasn’t the end of the matter, as the Royals skipper continued his finger-pointing and said something to his teammate.
Sooryavanshi breaks records
With the 96-run knock, Sooryavanshi further consolidated his position at the Orange Cap leaderboard. The youngster now has 776 runs to his name in 15 matches. He also became the fastest Indian to 1000 runs, achieving the milestone in 23 innings. In terms of balls faced, he’s the fastest, scoring 1000 runs in just 440 balls. Sooryavanshi also became the youngest to reach 1000 runs, breaking Rishabh Pant’s record.
Sooryavanshi now also has the joint-highest dismissals in the 90s (3), alongside David Warner, KL Rahul, Glenn Maxwell, and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Speaking of the game between the Rajasthan Royals and the Gujarat Titans, the former posted 214/6 in 20 overs after opting to bat. Apart from Sooryavanshi, Ravindra Jadeja and Donovan Ferreira also chipped in with valuable contributions, hitting unbeaten 45 and 38, respectively.
However, this total didn’t prove enough, as Shubman Gill returned with a 104-run knock to set up the Gujarat Titans’ win. In the end, GT cruised home with seven wickets in hand and eight balls to spare. The Titans will now face the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL 2026 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, May 31.
