Like he usually does before a game, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi sat near the crease, the bat in his hands with eyes closed. That way, he seems to visualise his scoring areas.
The 15-year-old left-hander then was spot-on with his visualisation as he unleashed a carnage (97 off 29 balls) to set up Rajasthan Royals’ comprehensive 47-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Wednesday’s Eliminator in Mullanpur. The Royals will now face Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 at the same venue on Friday for a shot at the final berth.
Courtesy yet another sensational display from Sooryavanshi and the consistent keeper-batter Dhruv Jurel’s 21-ball 50, the Royals posted 243/8 after being put into bat. Irrespective of the conditions, such a big total can put any chasing side under pressure.
The Sunrisers felt exactly that as Abhishek Sharma failed to negotiate Jofra Archer’s short-pitched stuff and was caught behind as early as the second ball of the chase. Ishan Kishan, at No.3, counterattacked both Archer and Nandre Burger from the outset. But after three boundaries and as many sixes, he too couldn’t deal with Archer’s hard length and perished.
To put the Royals further in the ascendancy, Burger induced a false shot off Ravichandran Smaran that reduced the Sunrisers to 52/3 in the fourth over. Archer made matters worse for the Pat Cummins-led side as an attempted hoick from Travis Head uprooted his off-stump, leaving the Sunrisers reeling at 71/4 after the Powerplay.
After being smoked around the park by Sooryavanshi, the Sunrisers’ harrowing time continued, thanks to Archer’s searing pace that braved the flatness of the pitch. Precisely, after Archer blew up the Sunrisers’ top order, chasing down the daunting target became almost impossible for them as they eventually folded up for 196 in 19.2 overs.
Earlier, Sooryavanshi went past Chris Gayle for the most number of sixes in the IPL well before the Powerplay. He looked all set to break the “Universe Boss’s” fastest IPL hundred (off 30 balls), but fell perilously short of the three-figure mark as he mistimed a short ball from Praful Hinge to perish at the third-man region.
Individually, that was a moment of agony for the teenager, but for his team, his innings was almost as good as an early knockout punch. Yes, in unforgiving conditions for bowlers, the Sunrisers kept erring in length. But Sooryavanshi equally deserves credit for making optimum use of each of the scoring opportunities, finishing with 12
huge sixes and five boundaries to put the Royals in the driving seat.
Apart from his maturity, what also stood out was the way he dealt with a stalwart fast bowler like Cummins, hammering the Australia skipper for three consecutive sixes with incredible bat-swing in his second over.
“I just try to stay positive with my intent. When I do so, the bowlers stay under pressure. So, I try to continue that and keep dominating,” Sooryavanshi, adjudged
Man of the Match, said at the presentation.