Rajasthan Royals (RR) hosted Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Guwahati for the IPL 2026 opening match for both teams. This match was played on March 30, 2026. Riyan Parag, the RR captain, won the toss and chose to bowl first.
The new-look CSK, without MS Dhoni in their dugout, looked fragile as the top four batters fell for single-digit scores. Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad made 6 runs, Ayush Mhatre fell for a golden duck, and Matt Short made 2 runs.
It was Sarfaraz Khan (17) and debutant Kartik Sharma (18) who stemmed the fall of wickets. Then Jamie Overton made 43 in 36 balls to push CSK’s final total to 127 runs. For RR, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, and Ravindra Jadeja all took two wickets each.
When RR began their chase, all eyes were on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who recently celebrated his 15th birthday. He took the attack to the CSK bowlers, as Yashasvi Jaiswal played a supporting role. Sooryavanshi hammered 5 sixes and 4 fours as he made 52 runs in 17 balls before his dismissal.
Jaiswal made 38*, while Dhruv Jurel made 18 and Riyan Parag made 14* as RR achieved the target in 12.1 overs and won the game by 8 wickets.
The cricket fraternity was stunned to see Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s assault on CSK bowlers and praised him on social media.
Here are the reactions:
