The 15-year-old menacing opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is not holding back his natural instinct to attack against the bigwigs. While a famous quote from American TV show’s Harvey Specter says “Play the man, not the odds”, its is quote the opposite for Sooryavanshi. The youngster reveals that the thought of who is facing stays in the back of his mind but he still adopts a fearless approach against the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Hazlewood by making it a simple equation to just ‘play the ball’.
“At the back of the mind it stays that who is bowling, but I was trying to play the ball, not look at the bowler, and play the ball according to what it is, play my game,” the Rajasthan Royals (RR) opener said after his match-winning 26-ball 78 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on April 10.
In the run chase of 203, Sooryavanshi smashed Hazlewood for three consecutive fours and a six in the fourth over. On the third ball of the fifth over, Hazlewood reached his fifty from just 15 balls with two consecutive sixes off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Royals managed to post 97/1 in the powerplay overs. He had help from Dhruv Jurel as well who went on to register an unbeaten 43-ball 81. On being asked how Sooryavanshi manages to play without fear, he credited it to the amount of deliveries he faces in the nets.
“No sir, it's not like that, I just try to do what I do in practice, do the same, don't try anything extra and back my natural game,” said the in-form opener.
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Sooryavanshi regrets playing loose shot
Sooryavanshi loves to bat and is not a happy man when he walks back to the dressing room. While he had taken the game away from RCB in the first half only, he regrets playing the loose shot.
“Sir, if I stay on the wicket, then another 10-20 runs can be made, if we are chasing the target, then we can finish it two overs earlier, or if we set the target, then 10-20 runs can be made more. So I regret that if I am out by playing a loose shot, then the team is going minus, so I just get a little upset that I could have played longer,” said Sooryavanshi.
Sooryavanshi holds the orange cap
Sooryavanshi now holds the orange cap with 200 runs from four innings at an average of 50 and strike rate of 266.67. He has hit 18 sixes in the tournament already. He will be seen in action on April 13 when RR take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) away from home. RR maintained their top position with four wins on the trot.