NEW DELHI: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi lit up the IPL 2026 Eliminator with a stunning knock against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals opener smashed 97 runs off just 29 balls, including 12 massive sixes, helping his team register a dominant 47-run victory and move into Qualifier 2. Although he missed out on a century, his fearless batting grabbed attention from cricket fans and legends around the world.Chris Gayle, whose long-standing IPL record for most sixes in a season was broken by Sooryavanshi, praised the youngster after he reached 65 sixes in the tournament, going past Gayle’s 59 from 2015. “What a phenomenal player Vaibhav is. Great entertainment young man! New Six machine,” Gayle wrote.After the match, Sooryavanshi revealed he was not thinking about personal milestones during his explosive innings. “I got to know after the game,” he said when asked about narrowly missing the fastest IPL hundred. He added, “My focus was on hitting a six. I will score centuries in future, but the focus was on getting maximum runs for the team.”India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav also praised the teenager’s fearless batting. “Chin up boy. What a CLASS innings, you’ve taken everyone’s breath away,” Surya wrote on X, calling him a future star.While Sooryavanshi stole the headlines, Jofra Archer played a major role with the ball. The England pacer rattled SRH early by dismissing Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Ishan Kishan during the powerplay. Chasing a huge target, Hyderabad never recovered from those early blows and were bowled out for 196 in 19.2 overs. Rajasthan Royals will now face Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 for a place in the IPL final.
