A few days after a Pakistani YouTuber had claimed that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) batter, has a chip in his bat, given his immense talent and the way he is scoring runs in IPL 2026, former England captain Jos Buttler has shared similar views.
Sooryavanshi, 15, has scored 400 runs in 9 innings in RR, with one century and two fifties at a strike rate of 238.09. He is the youngest to score 400 runs in a single IPL and the youngest and first uncapped player to score more than one century in the IPL.
Nauman Niaz, a Pakistani cricket commentator, accused Sooryavanshi of using an AI chip in his bat to generate power. Sooryavanshi responded appropriately, stating that God had naturally given him that capacity.
However, it appears that the world cannot get enough of attaching him to artificial intelligence. In a recent conversation, Gujarat Titans batsman Jos Buttler questioned whether the boy wonder is real.
Buttler appeared to be struggling to understand Sooryavanshi's audacity and fearlessness, to the point where he texted Jofra Archer, the youngster's Rajasthan Royals teammate.
“I actually texted Jofra and asked, ‘Is he AI? Has Elon Musk created this teenage sensation who is just a wizard with the bat?’ But no, he is real – and he is brilliant to watch. He is becoming a seriously exciting player, and I think there’s a very good chance we could see him in England this summer,” Buttler said on the ‘For the Love of Cricket’ podcast.
Instead of showing second-season syndrome, Sooryavanshi has only elevated his game from last year. He has hammered three amazing international bowlers—Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood, and Pat Cummins—for a first-ball six in this IPL 2026.
While this will undoubtedly be a fascinating bit of information for years to come, Buttler believes it has the potential to become a defining memory that will be discussed for decades.
“I must admit, in the IPL, you spend a lot of time on your phone in your room. I was scrolling through Instagram when I came across the Sunrisers’ post-match wrap-up from that game, where they were handing out a few awards. They were talking to Pat Cummins after his first game of the season, and James Franklin said to him, ‘You’ve joined a very exclusive club today alongside Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Hazlewood.’ I remember thinking, ‘That’s some company—what club is this?’ And then he said, ‘The first ball you bowled to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, he hit you for six as well’,” said Buttler.
“So Sooryavanshi, from the first three balls he has faced against Hazlewood, Bumrah, and Cummins—arguably three all-time greats—has deposited each one over the ropes for six. Of all the records he may go on to break in his career, I think that might be one of my favorites. It’s outrageous. You can imagine a coach telling 15-year-old Vaibhav, ‘These are pretty good bowlers, mate—maybe just have a look at one.’ And he has decided to launch each of them out of the ground on the first ball. That is just extraordinary,” he added.
Sooryavanshi will be in action when RR faces DC in Delhi on May 1.
