Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's phenomenal 96 off 47 balls went in vain as Rajasthan Royals (RR) went down against Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL 2026 Qualifier 2 at Mullanpur on Friday (May 29).
Despite setting a formidable 214/6, RR couldn't defend the total as captain Shubman Gill's unbeaten 104 off 53 balls and Sai Sudarshan's 58 off 32 balls guided GT to a seven-wicket victory with eight deliveries to spare.
Speaking on JioHotstar after the match, GT pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada lauded the 15-year-old Sooryavanshi, highlighting his extraordinary "fast hands," rapid length assessment, and fearless energy.
"He just keeps amazing everyone who watches the game. He's got such fast hands, and he picks length quickly. He's got so much energy," Rabada said.
“When you're young, you have so much energy and no fear, and that's exactly what he's shown, no fear and just a natural instinct for the game that allows him to perform the way he is performing. At this stage, you throw age out of the window; it doesn't matter how old he is. It's amazing what he's doing,” he added.
GT's opening strategy with the ball worked perfectly as Mohammed Siraj dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first over, and Rabada quickly followed by removing Dhruv Jurel for 7, leaving RR reeling at 9/2. However, the Royals still went on to post an imposing total.
Rabada admitted that the pace attack drifted from their primary strategy by bowling an excess of short-pitched deliveries rather than challenging the batters upfront.
“The plan was to back our strengths, as we normally do, and hopefully get early wickets. We did get two early wickets, but then they fought back, and we missed our mark by bowling a few too many short balls, where we probably wanted to challenge them a bit more upfront,” Rabada stated.
“They got away from us a little, but we knew we weren't completely out of it because we knew we could still get wickets. We had the game under control until the 19th over.”
“It was pretty tough for Rashid (Khan) to come on and bowl on this wicket as a spinner against some genuine power hitters. We probably felt that 180-190 was what we should have restricted them to, barring the dropped catch (of Sooryavanshi),” he remarked.
Reflecting on bowling in tandem with Mohammed Siraj, Rabada said the Indian speedster increases the chances of him taking wickets.
"Siraj's my partner this season. We've just been trying to operate as a partnership. If he's putting pressure on from the other end, then hopefully I can do the same, and that's how we get wickets,” the South African pacer said.
“Everyone knows him. He's got a lot of heart, and he's got a lot of skill too. It's lovely to be bowling with him (as) it just increases your chances of getting a wicket because someone at the other end is applying just as much pressure, if not more,” Rabada concluded.
(With PTI Inputs)
