Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has set his target for IPL 2026. The young Rajasthan Royals opener, who will soon turn 15, has said he is aiming to overhaul Chris Gayle’s IPL record individual score of 175.
Playing for RCB, Gayle scored 175 not out off 66 balls against Pune Warriors in 2013. It’s still the highest individual score in all men’s T20s, with Aaron Finch’s 172 against Zimbabwe in a T20I in Harare in 2018 the second-highest.
Speaking at the BCCI’s annual awards ceremony in New Delhi on Sunday, Sooryavanshi said he wants “that record of 175 runs”.
Sooryavanshi himself has a best of 144, for India A against UAE in last year’s Asia Cup Rising Stars. That’s one of his three centuries in T20s in just 18 innings.
He also has the second-fastest century in all IPL cricket: off 35 balls, for Rajasthan Royals against Gujarat Titans in IPL 2025. It’s the second-fastest since Gayle, while compiling that 175 not out, got to his century off just 30 balls.
“The goal for IPL 2026 is to win the trophy for the team because that’s the most important thing,” he said speaking to JioHotstar on the sidelines of the awards ceremony. “If the team wins the trophy, it will mean that I would
have performed, and the team will benefit from that. So that’s the goal: contribute
to my team’s victories and win the trophy.”
Sanju Samson, under whose captaincy, Sooryavanshi made his debut for
Royals, also revealed a funny behind-the-scenes story about the youngster.
According to Samson, Royals’ then coach Rahul Dravid had called the opener for a meeting before his first IPL match to discuss how he should approach the game. Sooryavanshi’s response, however, surprised everyone in the room.
“I was actually there in the meeting,” Samson recalled. “Rahul Sir called him into the room and told me, ‘Sanju, we need to talk to him. He’s a very young kid... we have to explain how to go about it’.
“So Rahul Sir asked him, ‘Vaibhav, what’s the plan?’ Vaibhav replied, ‘Kuch nahi Sir, hum to khelenge (Nothing special, Sir. I’ll just play).’ Rahul Sir asked again, ‘What’s your game plan?’”
“Vaibhav said, ‘Agar hume pehla ball mila to hum pehla hi uda denge’ (If the first ball is in my zone, I’ll hit it in the air). And that’s exactly what he did. He was playing a video game of his own,” Samson said as the audience broke into laughter.