A 15-year-old stood at the crease in Mullanpur last night, staring at the ground, refusing to walk off. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had just scored 97 off 29 balls in the IPL 2026 Eliminator for Rajasthan Royals against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was crying because it wasn’t 100.
He had hit boundaries off seven consecutive deliveries. One more ball, one more boundary, and Chris Gayle’s 13-year-old record for the fastest IPL century — 30 balls — would have been his. He tried the upper cut to deep third. He was caught.
The 12 Sixes That Broke Pat Cummins
The seventh of his 12 sixes came in the fourth over. It also broke a separate Gayle record — most sixes in an IPL season, set in 2012. Sooryavanshi was done with that record before most viewers had finished their first drink of the evening.
Then Pat Cummins came on. Australia’s white-ball captain. The man who lifts World Cups. Sooryavanshi hit him for three sixes in a row. Cummins said afterwards: “The margins are so small. You miss your yorker by a little bit and he doesn’t tend to miss them.”
What 125-1 in 8 Overs Actually Means
When Sooryavanshi was dismissed, Rajasthan were 125-1. Yashasvi Jaiswal — a Test-level India opener — was on 25 off 20 at the other end. Sooryavanshi had scored nearly five times faster than him.
RR finished on 243/8. SRH were Archer’s first over before they were really ready — Abhishek Sharma gone second ball, Ishan Kishan and Travis Head soon after. SRH bowled out for 196. RR won by 47.
The Orange Cap Came Back. So Did the Question.
Sooryavanshi reclaimed the Orange Cap: 680 runs at a strike rate of 242.85, with 65 sixes. He is 15. He already broke two IPL records with 8 runs earlier this season. Last week he scored 93 off 38 to keep RR alive. Michael Vaughan tweeted what half the country was already saying: “He is the best T20 opener in the world. India have to pick him.”
Sunil Gavaskar called it an innings to savour. Gayle himself called Sooryavanshi cricket’s “new six machine.”
RR play Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 on Friday. GT hammered RR by 77 runs in Jaipur two weeks ago. Winner faces RCB in Sunday’s final.
A 15-year-old broke a record from before he was born, fell three runs short of the fastest IPL century, and won his team the IPL 2026 Eliminator by 47 runs anyway. He stood frozen because he thought he had failed. The numbers will outlive the disappointment.