Vaibhav Sooryavanshi once again lit up the cricketing world, this time with a breathtaking innings in a high-pressure knockout clash where Rajasthan Royals had everything on the line. The teenager produced a record-breaking knock against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator, showing once again that pressure hardly affects his fearless approach at the crease.
The 15-year-old hammered 12 sixes during his stunning assault, breaking a record that had stood for more than a decade. His tally of 65 sixes this IPL season went past the 59 sixes smashed by Chris Gayle in 2012. Sooryavanshi also came agonisingly close to registering the fastest century in IPL history before falling for 97 off just 29 balls, with Gayle’s 30-ball hundred still remaining the benchmark.
What stood out even more was the quality of the bowling attack he dismantled. Sooryavanshi cleared the ropes at will against a formidable pace unit featuring Pat Cummins, Eshan Malinga, Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain, making one of the tournament’s strongest bowling attacks look ordinary on the biggest stage.
Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody was left searching for words to describe the impact Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is having on the game after the teenager’s astonishing knock in the IPL Eliminator. Moody said what the 15-year-old is producing with the bat goes beyond anything the cricketing world has witnessed before, calling it a level of dominance rarely seen in any format of the sport.
“I’m sort of trying to get my head around how to explain it. The only way to explain it is to ask someone to watch it and come up with their own description, because we’re witnessing something I don’t think we’ve seen in our lifetime in this format of the game, or even any format of the game. We’ve seen amazing things, but not to this extreme,” Moody said on ESPNCricinfo.
Moody went a step further while explaining the scale of Sooryavanshi’s dominance, drawing comparisons with the legendary Sir Donald Bradman. He said the gap the 15-year-old has created between himself and the rest of the field in T20 cricket reminded him of Bradman’s unmatched numbers in Test cricket, underlining just how extraordinary Sooryavanshi’s rise has been at such a young age.
“The only thing I can take it back to is what Bradman was doing, Bradman nearly averaged 100 in Test cricket, and the drop-off to the next best was around 60, so that’s the separation we’re talking about. It’s that in T20 cricket at the age of 15,” he added.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi leading Orange Cap race
Sooryavanshi currently sits at the top of the Orange Cap standings after a sensational IPL campaign that has redefined aggressive batting in T20 cricket. The 15-year-old has amassed 680 runs in just 15 matches at an impressive average of 45.33 while maintaining a staggering strike rate of 242.85.
