With each passing day, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's stature continues to rise. The 15-year-old sensation smashed his second Indian Premier League (IPL) century on Saturday as he surpassed the three-figure mark against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The left-hander lasted 37 balls in the middle, scoring 103 runs with the help of 5 fours and 12 sixes; however, his knock went in vain as Sunrisers Hyderabad chased down the daunting total of 228 to defeat the Rajasthan Royals by five wickets.
Just like he showed no respect to Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Hazlewood, the same was the case with Pat Cummins, the SRH captain. Sooryavanshi smacked a six off the first ball he faced of the Australian Test and ODI captain. In the match against SRH, Sooryavanshi faced just four balls against Cummins, scoring eight runs, including one six and two singles.
It's now safe to say that Cummins is a fan of Sooryavanshi after the carnage he witnessed first-hand in Jaipur. The seasoned pro had high praise for the youngster, saying the batter from Samastipur, Bihar, is his “new favourite player.”
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“I think he's my new favourite player. He hits the ball so hard, it's great to watch. It's good fun,” Cummins told reporters in the post-match press conference.
{{/usCountry}}“I think he's my new favourite player. He hits the ball so hard, it's great to watch. It's good fun,” Cummins told reporters in the post-match press conference.
{{/usCountry}}“You have to be right on the money as a bowler. If you are not, it's going a long way. It's impressive. He has had a great start to his career, and yeah, I like the way he plays. Takes the game on,” he added.
Orange Cap race
After his 103-run knock against the Sunrisers, Sooryavanshi moved to the top of the Orange Cap leaderboard for a while; however, he was leapfrogged by Abhishek Sharma in the same game owing to his 57-run knock off 29 balls. After eight matches, Abhishek has 380 runs while Sooryavanshi has 357 to his name.
Sooryavanshi's century came off just 36 balls, and with this, he registered the second-fastest ton by an Indian in the tournament. The record belongs to the left-hander, who had surpassed the 35-ball mark in the previous edition of the IPL against the Gujarat Titans.
Speaking of the match between Rajasthan and Hyderabad, the former posted 228/6 after being asked to bat first. The visitors then chased the total down with five wickets in hand and nine balls to spare, owing to half-centuries by Abhishek (57) and Ishan Kishan (74).