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In match no.71 of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) faced the Rajasthan Royals (RR), which was the Eliminator of the tournament. It was Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s night as it was his carnage hitting that went the fans go berserk on the night and enjoyed every bit of his six-hitting show.
The Rajasthan Royals won the game by 47 runs, knocking the Orange Army out of the tournament, and the Royals will be facing the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Qualifier 2 at this very venue. SRH captain Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to field first, making one change, bringing Praful Hinge, and RR brought Ravindra Jadeja.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi show against SRH
After being put into bat first, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi broke several records in his innings of 97 runs off 29 deliveries. He nearly became the player to score the fastest hundred in IPL history. The Southpaw struck 12 sixes and struck the most sixes, 65 in a season, the most by any in a single edition.
He was supported in small times by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel, who scored 29 and 50 runs respectively. The Royals were off to a flying start, scoring 80/0 in the power play. They scored 243/8 in 20 overs, with a contribution from skipper Riyan Parag scoring 26 runs.
SRH batters never got going
SRH openers, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, never got going while chasing a target of 244 runs; the latter was dismissed for a duck, and Head also went back for 17 runs as Ishan Kishan, who was striking the ball, scored 33 runs as SRH lost five wickets inside 10 overs.
After that, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Salil Arora stitched a 56-run partnership, but the former was back for 38 runs, and Salil scored 35 runs. There was a fighting innings from Shivang Kumar of 27 runs towards the end that helped the Orange Army to close the margin of the loss as they were bowled out for the score of 196 runs.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi joins the hands with Samson and Kishan for the POTM record
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was the Player of the Match for his excellent innings of 97 runs, and the 15-year-old is now the leading run getter of the tournament with 680 runs, with five fifties and one hundred in the competition so far. He will look to continue his ruthless hitting in the next game.
This was his third POTM as he became the joint-most with Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson for most POTM this season. Vaibhav said, after winning POTM, “(Do you celebrate the happiness or is it more like ‘what’s gone is gone, now think ahead’?) When we win, we just take the positive intent forward and move on to the next match.”
I do think a little bit- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
“And we’outside the leg-stump try to win the next match in the same way and reach the finals. (What’s your mindset going into the next game?) I do think a little bit, but not too much. I just try to play the game I’m in and not overthink. But if I feel there’s something I need to work on, then I look at that.”
“(Tell us about your preparation before the match.) I just think about who the bowlers are in the opposition team, how I can face them on this wicket, how big the boundaries are, just these kinds of things. I just try to stay positive with my intent. When I do that, the bowlers stay under pressure.”
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s mantra: think less, deliver more 🔥
A record-breaking night as Rajasthan Royals move one step closer to their title dream.🩷#TATAIPL 2026 Qualifier 2 👉 #GTvRR | FRI, 29th MAY, 6:30 PM pic.twitter.com/z7sjQuhVM6
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) May 27, 2026
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi concluded, “So I try to continue that and dominate the game. (On the ball he was dismissed, was he aware about the record?) I found out only after I got out. At that time, my only focus was to contribute as much as I could because centuries will keep happening, but right now the focus is on how to win the trophy.”
“If I feel I’m having trouble somewhere, I work on that. I don’t think about what the opposition is planning, that’s their plan. I focus on what my plan is, and I just try to play normal cricket.”
