Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium witnessed total madness as Rajasthan Royals’ young opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi destroyed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) with fearless hitting. RR might have lost the match to SRH, but the 15-year-old ended up stealing the attention and even social media trends.
Even though the RR vs SRH IPL 2026 match had big names on both sides, it was Vaibhav Sooryavanshi who left everyone stunned with his confidence, power, and attacking play, and made them all look ordinary with his clean and powerful hitting.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi conquers Hinge in RR vs SRH in IPL 2026
The left-handed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi went into attack mode right from the first over. Facing Praful Hinge, Vaibhav smashed four sixes in the very first over itself. It was the first instance when four sixes were hit in the opening over of an IPL innings. Earlier, Naman Ojha had smashed three sixes against Brad Hodge in 2009.
In their previous meeting, Hinge dismissed Sooryavanshi early and even picked three wickets in that first over. This time, the RR opener came back stronger and completely turned the tables in brutal style. He was dropped when he was on 32, but then he showed pure attacking cricket.
He reached his century in just 36 balls, making it one of the fastest centuries ever in IPL. Vaibhav ended up scoring 103 runs from just 37 balls, hitting 12 sixes and five fours, as the Rajasthan Royals put up a huge score of 228 for 6 in their first home game of the season.
Sam Billings compares Vaibhav to Football wonderkid Lamine Yamal
However, SRH chased down the target with three balls to spare and five wickets in hand against RR. After the match, the buzz only got bigger. England’s wicketkeeper-batter Sam Billings and many others couldn’t stop talking about Sooryavanshi’s rare talent.
Billings compared Sooryavanshi to the Spanish teenage football sensation Lamine Yamal after this breathtaking performance against SRH in Jaipur. The 18-year-old Yamal plays for FC Barcelona and the Spanish football team. At this age, he is one of the world’s best young footballers.
The Englishman posted on X: “Is Sooryavanshi the best 15-year-old ever in any professional sport? Truly remarkable what he is doing!!!! We’re watching Lamine Yamal-level talent!”
Is Sooryavanshi the best 15 year old ever in any professional sport? Truly remarkable what he is doing!!!!
We’re watching Lamine Yamal level talent!
— Sam Billings (@sambillings) April 25, 2026
Allan Border sees Brian Lara glimpse in Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
Meanwhile, former Australian captain Allan Border has praised Vaibhav’s strength and smart batting approach. He even noticed some similarity in Vaibhav’s style with West Indies great Brian Lara but asked him to “learn how to tighten his defense.”
Allan Border was quoted as saying by the Mid-day: “I think Vaibhav’s one hell of a player, a great talent. I have never seen any batter at the age of 14 or 15 hitting a cricket ball with so much power. Of course, I can’t predict at this moment if he will go on to become a very successful Test cricketer or not, but I can clearly see glimpses of Brian Lara in him. He has a long way to go, but he sure can hit that ball across all parts of the ground.”
