It has been a sensational season for Vaibhav Sooryavanshias the 15-year-old has truly established himself as the ‘face of IPL 2026’. The youngster is currently the highest run-scorer in the competition with 680 runs from 15 matches at an astonishing strike rate of 242.85. The latest example of his aggressive brand of batting was the 29-ball 97 that guided Rajasthan Royals to victory in the IPL 2026 Eliminator clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday. While his performances have earned him a lot of praise from experts, they have also made his jersey a must-have for cricket fans all around the country.
According to a report by The Indian ExpressSooryavanshi’s No. 03 jersey is in huge demand, and Rajasthan Royals representatives told the newspaper that they had never seen such a spike in demand for a particular player’s merchandise.
“His jersey is in huge demand, everyone has been asking for his jersey only. And it’s the most-sold jersey too, we have never seen such demand,” the source told The Indian Express.
West Indies cricket icon Chris Gayle hailed India and Rajasthan Royals (RR) 15-year-old prodigy for his sensational 29-ball 97 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) eliminator, which saw the teenager overtake the ‘Universe Boss’ for most sixes in a single IPL edition.
Sooryavanshi saved his best for the knockouts, brutalising an intelligent, in-form SRH bowling line-up with a marvelous 97 in 29 balls, with five fours and 12 sixes at a strike rate of over 334. He went past Gayle’s 59 IPL 2012 sixes and sits on 65 sixes this season, the most-ever in a T20 tournament.
Posting on Instagram, Gayle said, “Outstanding @Vaibhav_Sooryavanshi09, a new six machine @iplt20”
He also cheered up Sooryavanshi on missing out on what could have been the fastest IPL hundred in 29 balls, another record which Gayle holds. He said that while Sooryavanshi was “unlucky”, he will “get there eventually.”
In this season, Sooryavanshi has smashed 680 runs in 15 innings at an average of 45.33 and a strike rate of 242.85, including a century and four fifties, with a best score of 103. He has smashed 55 fours and 65 sixes in 280 balls faced. His balls per boundary shot ratio is 2.3, and balls per six ratio is 4.3.
This season, Sooryavanshi has scored 88.9 per cent of his runs through fours and sixes, as compared to Andre Russell’s 85.5 per cent of 510 runs through boundaries in the 2019 IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), as per CricViz.
Sooryavanshi has also leveled with Gayle for most instances of hitting 10-plus sixes in an IPL innings, a total of four times. Three of these occasions have come this season, making him the first batsman to hit 10-plus sixes in three IPL innings in a season.
(With ANI inputs)
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