Guwahati, March 30 – Teenage opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who lit up the ACA Stadium with a blistering 52 off 17 balls, helping Rajasthan Royals secure an eight-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings, said the team's focus was on dominating the powerplay in a modest chase of 128 at the ACA Stadium.
"I didn't really do anything special – there was supposed to be a cake cutting, but I went to sleep early to avoid the mess (referring to celebrating his birthday last week). The plan today was simply to execute well in the powerplay – initially, the pitch felt a bit tricky, but as the ball got older, it started coming onto the bat nicely.
"I do think about defence, but today our plan was to control the game in the powerplay because, in a small chase, that phase is crucial – if the bowling team does well there, the game can swing their way, but our powerplay went really well," he said at the end of the game.
His explosive innings, also the third fastest fifty in IPL history, virtually sealed RR's chase of 128 inside the first six overs. Yashasvi Jaiswal and captain Riyan Parag later completed the formalities with 47 balls to spare, capping off a dominant performance that began with incisive spells from Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, and Ravindra Jadeja, who bowled out CSK for 127.
Asked about guidance from coaches and fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sooryavanshi said, "The coaches didn't specifically say that bowlers would target me – everyone else was already saying that – but they just told me that they believe in me and that I should stick to my natural game and play according to the situation.
"My opening partner (Jaiswal) keeps communicating with me after every ball – he tells me when to take singles, keeps giving me the strike, and encourages me to keep playing my shots if the ball is coming nicely onto the bat (referring to their partnership)," he said.
Player of the Match Nandre Burger, who picked 2-26, credited their team's strong start with the ball for their win. "Firstly, all the glory to God – it feels great to contribute to a win for the team and get us off to a good start. Watching the previous games with big scores, you naturally prepare for chasing something big, so winning the toss and getting the ball first was crucial for us and helped us get off to a strong start.
Asked about his plan to bowl in the powerplay, Burger said, "The plan is always to get every batter out – I can't really say I meant to bowl that exact delivery to Sanju Samson, it just happened, you can call it natural variation – but overall, the idea was to bowl tight lines and make batters hit into the areas we wanted, so I'm glad it worked in my favour today.
"The dressing room feels pretty similar to before – there are a few new faces and changes like the coach and captain, but the energy is good, everyone is smiling, and hopefully this is a positive start so we can keep that momentum going," he said.