Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) legendary all-rounder and current 'power coach', Andre Russell praised 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for his ‘see ball, hit ball’ approach in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Sooryavanshi hit 12 sixes in his 29-ball 97 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Eliminator clash to break T20 legend Chris Gayle’s record for most sixes in a single IPL edition. Russell admitted that he is a fan of Sooryavanshi’s and took a dig at people who say that the young RR opener is 15 years old.
“Congratulations, youngster, haters will say you're not 15 years old, who cares, 30 years old players out there trying their best to do what you're doing. Keep going, I'am a big fan. See ball, hit ball!” Russell wrote on Instagram.
Before surpassing Gayle, Sooryavanshi had went past Russell who had hit 52 sixes in the IPL 2019 season for KKR.
Not just Russell, legendary players Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Yuvraj Singh and others as well.
Russell breaks, equals legendary IPL batters’ records
While Gayle missed out on breaking Gayle’s record for fastest century in IPL history, he broke a few others. The teenager has 490 runs in powerplay overs in the ongoing season. He has went past former SRH captain David Warner's tally of 467 runs in the IPL 2016 edition.
As Sooryavanshi smashed 12 sixes, he equalled Gayle's record for most instances of 10-plus sixes in an IPL innings. This was the fourth time the youngster has achieve the feat.
In the powerplay overs against SRH in Eliminator, he hit eight sixes, one more than Jayasuriya's record of seven powerplay sixes against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Sooryavanshi has went past Russell's boundary percentage record. So far, he has scored 88.9 per cent of 680 runs via boundaries. In IPL 2019, Russell had scored 85.5 per cent of his 510 runs in boundaries.
Sooryavanshi can break even more records as RR go up against Gujarat Titans (GT) in IPL 2026 Qualifier 2. If they progress to the final, the menacing teenager can also break the record for most runs by a RR batter in an IPL season.