Rajasthan Royals’ young star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi just keeps raising the bar. On Tuesday night in Jaipur, he smashed 93 off 38 balls against Lucknow Super Giants in a massive run chase of 221—setting all kinds of records along the way. Still a teenager, Sooryavanshi is now the youngest player in IPL history to cross 500 runs in a season. He broke Rishabh Pant’s record, who did it at age 20 for Delhi Daredevils back in 2018.
And it gets even crazier. Sooryavanshi holds the highest strike rate ever in an IPL season for anyone scoring 500 runs or more, lighting up the 2026 edition at a scary 236.3. For context, the next best is Andre Russell’s 204.8 in 2019, then Abhishek Sharma with 202.0 in 2026. Big hitters like Nicholas Pooran, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, and Chris Gayle follow on the list, but none come close this year.
Sooryavanshi also became the first Indian to hit 50 sixes in a single IPL season—he’s now at 53. Across all seasons, only Chris Gayle’s 59 in 2012 is ahead. Sooryavanshi, Russell, Gayle (again—he’s everywhere), Jos Buttler, and Abhishek Sharma round out this leaderboard.
He’s also matched another rare feat—twice in one season he’s clubbed 10 or more sixes in an innings, joining only Finn Allen (recently for KKR) and legends like Gayle and Abhishek Sharma who’ve done it multiple times in IPL history.
RR as a team have made their mark, too—they’ve bashed 60 sixes in the powerplay this season (a new IPL record), with Sooryavanshi responsible for 37 of them. Yashasvi Jaiswal chipped in with 12, and the rest of the squad added 11. The previous record was Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 59 in 2024.
Back to the match—LSG put up 220/5 after Josh Inglis and Mitchell Marsh exploded at the top. They raced to 83 in the powerplay, one of their best starts this year. Inglis made a quick 60, and Marsh powered on to 96 off 57. Rishabh Pant finished things off, but got run out at the end, leaving LSG at 220/5. Yash Raj Punja picked up two wickets, and Jofra Archer took one for RR.
The chase? Pure fireworks. Sooryavanshi hammered 10 sixes and seven fours in his 93. Jurel was right behind, smacking 53 from 38 balls. The Royals cruised to a seven-wicket win. That result pushes RR to fourth place in the points table with 14 points—right in the playoff mix.
