Ashish Nehra comes up with ‘masterstroke’, signals Mohammed Siraj to go for the kill; Vaibhav Sooryavanshi neutralised

Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra came up with a masterstroke to get the better of the Rajasthan Royals' opening batter, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

The script was all too familiar. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had given yet another blazing start to the Rajasthan Royals. For a brief while, it seemed that the hosts would make a match out of it in the chase of 230 against the Gujarat Titans at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Saturday. The young batter had announced himself on the biggest stage against the same opponent last year by smashing a 35-ball century. A year later, he once again began his innings in style, hitting Mohammed Siraj for a maximum off the first delivery he faced in the game against Shubman Gill's side in the IPL 2026 edition.

Ashish Nehra came up with a masterstroke (PTI)

Sooryavanshi was going hell for leather and was batting on 36 off just 15 deliveries, and it was then that the Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra took matters into his own hands. The former Indian pacer made the decisive signal from the boundary ropes to send a clear message to Siraj.

To Siraj's credit, the Indian pacer executed the plan perfectly, and Sooryavanshi's knock came to an early end, and with that, Rajasthan's chances of winning the match went away in no time.

The broadcast cameras captured the Gujarat head coach standing near the boundary ropes, making some signals. If one observes closely, one can see the former Indian pacer pointing his hand towards the head, telling Siraj to bowl a bouncer at Sooryavanshi.

Soon enough, Siraj executes the delivery, and Sooryavanshi was beaten by pace, only managing to sky the ball into the air, and Arshad Khan took a simple catch.

All you need to know about Sooryavanshi's wicket

Speaking of Sooryavanshi, he lost his wicket on the final delivery of the third over. Siraj, 32, bowled a skiddy bouncer at 146.6 kmph, and the 15-year-old was rushed onto his shot. The bumper was bowled around the middle and off stump, and there wasn't much room for Sooryavanshi to get in line with the ball.

Sooryavanshi just managed to top edge the delivery, and Arshad Khan completed a simple catch at the right of short fine leg. Following this, Siraj broke into a passionate and animated celebration, with his eyes almost popping out of his socket.

With this 36-run knock, Sooryavanshi took his run tally to 440 in 11 matches and he's currently in the fifth position in the Orange Cap leaderboard.

Speaking of the game between the Gujarat Titans and the Royals, the former came out on top by 77 runs after bundling out the hosts for just 152. With this victory, the Titans moved into second place in the standings, while the Royals slipped to fifth.