Guwahati, April 10 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi proved that one can surpass the best by playing another astonishing innings – a 26-ball 78 with seven sixes – to set up an easy six-wicket victory for Rajasthan Royals against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL here on Friday.
While most 15-year-olds across the country were worried about their 10th board exam results, this teenager from Bihar's Samastipur spent the evening hitting a 15-ball fifty as the Royals achieved a target of 202 in just 18 overs.
Dhruv Jurel (81 not out off 43 balls), enjoying his best IPL season with the bat, played several graceful shots, but when Sooryavanshi is in form, everyone else is left to watch in awe, experiencing firsthand what brilliance looks like.
Sooryavanshi continued to put the reputations of world-famous international bowlers at stake with his amazing bat speed and timing. The chubby-cheeked teenager had previously toyed with Jasprit Bumrah's ego, and on Friday, it was Jos Hazlewood's turn to be targeted.
Hazlewood, a seasoned red-ball bowler, bowled a perfect delivery close to Sooryavanshi's body, leaving him with little room. To his horror, the young boy simply smashed the delivery for a boundary.
The next two deliveries were also boundaries, one over mid-on, and the other, he dispatched a delivery from outside the off-stump into the square leg area.
His best shot was a powerful shot – where he simply whipped a yorker-length delivery from seamer Abhinandan Singh into the stands, just a little wide of long-on.
Every shot he hit left the crowd wanting more. Who could have possibly imagined that he took only 15 balls to score 74 of his 78 runs in fours (8) and sixes (7)?
Even a wily bowler like Bhuvneshwar Kumar was treated with disdain, adding a staggering 108 runs for the second wicket in just 6.1 overs with Jurel. Even Jurel feasted on Abhinandan, who had gone for 24 in one of his overs.
Critics are always skeptical about "second season blues" when it comes to newcomers, but Sooryavanshi, just like his cricketing philosophy, is out there to change popular perceptions.
His first season at 14 was exceptional. His second season has been magnificent so far.
Just when people were saying that a strike rate of 200 was the industry norm, Sooryavanshi upped the ante and achieved a strike rate of 300. He is not just on a mission to rewrite the record books, but to change perceptions and throw conventional wisdom out of the stadium – along with his orbit-touching sixes.
He is not just knocking on the door of the national T20 team; he is determined to break it down.
Earlier, RCB skipper Rajat Patidar's 40-ball-63 and a cameo from Impact Sub Venkatesh Iyer took RCB to 201 for 8, despite being 25 runs short of what should have been a par score.
But once Sooryavanshi started hitting, it seemed as though the total was 50 runs short of what was expected.