Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was awarded the POTM award for his blistering innings
RR beat LSG by seven wickets to keep their side's hopes alive
RR play MI next and know a win could hand them a spot in the IPL 2026 playoffs
Rajasthan Royals star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s blistering knock of 93 runs laced with 10 sixes against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday kept his side's hopes alive for the Indian Premier League play-offs. The 15-year-old was the star of the show as RR cruised to a seven-wicket victory over already-eliminated LSG in Jaipur.
Earlier, RR's stand-in captain Yashasvi Jaiswal had won the toss and opted to bowl first. The move backfired as Mitchell Marsh (96) along with his countryman Josh Inglis (60) carried LSG to 220-5 in 20 overs.
Rishabh Pant scored a 23-ball 35 in the latter part of the LSG innings as hammered RR bowlers to all corners of the stadium. Yash Raj Punja took two wickets from the RR bowlers.
In reply, Sooryavanshi took his time before charging against the pace. He scored only five runs off the first 10 balls he faced, but the youngster showed extravagant power-hitting to score 88 off the next 28 balls.
Fast bowler Akash Singh (1-54) conceded four boundaries against Jaiswal (43) in his 23-run first over as Sooryavanshi took the back seat and let the stand-in captain score bulk of the runs in the power play.
Singh dismissed Jaiswal in his second over, but then Sooryavanshi upped the ante by smashing two sixes and three fours in Singh’s ninth over of the innings.
Sooryavanshi raised the tally of his sixes to 53 this season and needs seven more big hits to break Chris Gayle’s 14-year-old IPL record of 59 sixes. Sooryavanshi could have been run-out in the 90s when Mohsin Khan couldn’t hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end from close range before the fast bowler had the youngster caught at long-on in the 14th over.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi - Player of the Match
15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was awarded the POTM award for his spell-binding batting against the LSG bowling attack. His 38-ball 93 carried 10 sixes and has reached the tally of 53 this season and needs seven more big hits to break Chris Gayle’s 14-year-old IPL record of 59 sixes.
“Everyone put the hard yards and worked really well,” Jaiswal said after leading his side to victory in the absence of injured regular RR captain Riyan Parag. “The way Vaibhav batted, (he) absolutely killed the game … we knew it was going to be a big score on this pitch.”
