Justin Langer's LSG team finished on 10th spot in the IPL 2026 points table.
RR had won the toss and asked LSG to bat first. Mitchell Marsh (96) and Josh Inglis (60) added 106 runs in under 9 overs, but then the LSG innings fell apart. Pant made 35 in 23 balls as LSG posted 220/5 in 20 overs.
In response, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi went after the total in full flow. Jaiswal was out for 43 in 23 balls, with eight fours and one six, but Dhruv Jurel joined Sooryavanshi to add 105 runs for the second wicket.
Sooryavanshi scored 93 in 38 balls, including 10 sixes and 7 fours, before being dismissed. Jurel then went on to score 53* with three sixes and three fours, leading RR to a 7-wicket triumph.
Sooryavanshi was given the Player of the Match, and while giving an interview to the IPL website, he was approached by Justin Langer for a photo. Sooryavanshi paused the interview midway and posed for the photo with the senior cricketer.
“I’m going to treasure that photo. Good luck with your career. Go well," Langer said.
Now, Justin Langer, whose team LSG finished in the 10th spot in the IPL 2026, revealed why he asked Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for a photo.
“Last week I did something I have only done twice in my life. I asked another athlete for a selfie. The first time was for my childhood AFL hero, South Fremantle’s Stephen Michael, a couple of years ago at Optus Stadium.
The second was a 15-year-old boy from a village in Bihar. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had just smashed my Lucknow Super Giants to every part of the ground. He has hit 53 sixes this IPL season—the second most by any batter in any T20 tournament in history, behind only Chris Gayle. He is the youngest centurion in men’s T20 cricket. He is 15," Langer wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
“After 35 years in the game, I simply can’t believe how this kid plays. He is nothing like I have seen before. He did it again last night in the playoff final. It got me thinking about talent—the word we use most often and understand least. Last weekend while Vaibhav was tearing up India, a 38-year-old in Melbourne named Scott Pendlebury was about to play his 433rd game and break the all-time VFL/AFL record. Two athletes. Two continents. Two completely different definitions of the same word,” he stated.