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Rajasthan Royals endured a heartbreaking loss against Gujarat Titans (GT) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Qualifier. The GT batters easily chased 215 runs in the second innings and secured seven wicket win over the Riyan Parag-led side.
Unfortunately, RR's teen sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's heroic knock of 96 runs off 47 balls went in vain, as Shubman Gill's century turned out to be a game changing knock. However, Vaibhav has received praise from former India pacer Zaheer Khan for his fighting knock against a formidable side like GT.
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Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's different aspect
In an interaction with Cricbuzz, former India pacer appreciated Vaibhav for showing a different aspect of his batting in a crucial game, where wickets were kept falling from the other end. Zaheer noted that GT bowlers were trying to restrict Sooryavanshi's scoring opportunities by placing a mid-off fielder and forcing him to play over mid-on. While backing his theory, Zaheer recalled the RR's game against SRH where bowlers were trying different field placements.
"For someone to have this kind of a season with 700-plus runs being scored. You can’t just bat in one fashion. You know, at some stage teams are going to figure it out. They’re going to try different things, and same was the case with Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Even today, GT was trying different tactics. They were trying to contain him by having mid-off, forcing him to play over mid-on. You’ve seen SRH trying to set a different field, so all those challenges, all those questions are going to be asked by different teams at different times, and you’ve got to stay on top of it," said Zaheer Khan.
The former DC skipper noted despite playing a relatively slower knock, Sooryavanshi managed to maintain a strike rate of over 200 which shows that he has different aspects in his game and he can handle the pressure situations well. However, Zaheer urged the young opener to stay on the right track so that he can break more records in the coming future.
“And that’s what has happened today as well. It was another example of wickets falling at the other end; he was not really able to get going. But look at the strike rate at which he’s batting. Slowish innings compared to what he’s been doing. But still managed to score 96 at a 205 strike rate. That’s phenomenal. So, you know, he’s got different dimensions to his game. He can play the situation, and that’s the exciting part. Like I said, it’s just about understanding more and more and having that sustenance. You know, if he’s able to just stay on this track, the records and the numbers will happen in due course,” added Zaheer.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's historic IPL 2026 campaign
Despite an unfortunate end, the 15-year-old opener enjoyed a terrific individual campaign while playing for RR. Vabhaiv managed to score 776 runs at an average of 48.50 with a staggering strike rate of 237.30. The left-handed batter smacked 63 boundaries and 72 sixes.
In the campaign, he broke Chris Gayle's long-standing record of most sixes (59 sixes in 2012) in a single season by smashing 72 maximums in IPL 2026.
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