Rajasthan Royals' prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi scripted history during the action-packed Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 27. Sooryavanshi ended up equalling the record for the fastest half-century in IPL playoff history. The 15-year-old left-handed batting sensation from Bihar ran riot with the bat at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh, needing just 16 balls to reach his fifty against SRH.
Sooryavanshi emulates Raina's fastest fifty in playoff record
With this explosive performance, the youngster joins elite company by matching a legendary record set over a decade ago. The feat was previously achieved by former Chennai Super Kings' star batter Suresh Raina, who also smashed a 16-ball half-century against the Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium during Qualifier 2 of the 2014 season.
Sooryavanshi breaks Gayle's sixes record too
In addition to matching the playoff half-century record, Sooryavanshi cleared the ropes to register his 60th six of the IPL 2026 campaign. With this monumental hit, the teenager shattered the long-standing record for the most sixes smashed by an individual player in a single IPL season. The historic moment came alive in the fourth over of the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, when Sooryavanshi fearlessly launched a delivery from Sakib Hussain over the long-off boundary. This breathtaking achievement saw him eclipse a legendary milestone previously held by West Indian power-hitter Chris Gayle. Gayle had set the towering benchmark back in the 2012 season, when he clobbered 59 sixes while terrorizing bowling attacks for Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI):
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel(w), Riyan Parag(c), Donovan Ferreira, Dasun Shanaka, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja
Rajasthan Royals Impact subs: Shubham Dubey, Sushant Mishra, Aman Rao Perala, Ravi Bishnoi, Tushar Deshpande
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI):
Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins(c), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge
Sunrisers Hyderabad Impact subs: Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel