Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, still only 15, smashed 97 from 29 deliveries to drag Rajasthan Royals to a 47-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL Eliminator at New Chandigarh. The innings – equal parts timing and audacity – powered Royals to 243 for 8 and kept their perfect record at the venue intact. They now face Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2, again in New Chandigarh.
Sunrisers’ skipper Pat Cummins tried to land yorkers up front but conceded 31 of the teenager’s runs. “Yeah, he played pretty well. [You] don’t feel like you have too many options,” Cummins admitted afterwards. “Obviously, it’s a really good pitch, but the margins are so small you know. You miss your yorker by a little bit [and] he doesn’t tend to miss them. So yeah fair play.”
The match pivoted inside eight deliveries. Cummins managed one dot and a single with his first two yorkers, then missed the length by a fraction and was lofted for six down the ground. Next over: 4, 6, 6, 6 and a wide. The Sunrisers never fully recovered.
Jofra Archer, who later removed Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen in a three-over burst, enjoyed the best view on the ground. “It was very exciting. The more runs he scores, the more runs we have to defend, so he can go on and get 150. It’s good for the boys when he gets a lot of runs,” Archer said.
Riyan Parag, captaining Royals this season, claims the most effective coaching method with Sooryavanshi is benign neglect. “That’s the thing we don’t have any conversations,” Parag told the presentation ceremony. “Yeah just leave him alone, let him go and have fun. He likes batting like I’ve said before so we get him a lot of batting practice at the nets and stuff like that and then he goes out and does his thing.”
Sunrisers replied with 196, a total that looked respectable only on the scoreboard. Royals’ seamers held their nerve at the death, ensuring the batters’ efforts were not wasted. Four wins from four in New Chandigarh suggest home-from-home advantage, though Titans’ varied attack will test that theory on Friday night.
