3 min readUpdated: Apr 11, 2026 08:01 AM IST
The entire world is currently speaking about Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and how, as a 15-year-old, he is taking on some of the best fast bowlers in the world without fear and succeeding in getting Rajasthan Royals (RR) off to blazing starts in the powerplay in IPL 2026.
On Friday, it was the turn of the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood to bear the brunt as Sooryavanshi went after the experienced RCB duo en route to making 78 runs in 26 balls.
The former praised the left-hander for his batting exploits, but admitted that there were no hard feelings about getting hit by a teenager.
“It’s a T20 game. Yes, he is young, but he is batting very well and very maturely. We never feel that somebody is trashing us. If a 15-year-old can bat like this, whether he is a 25-year-old or 15-year-old, it’s part of T20 cricket.”
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“We had our plans. There was a catch drop, but these things happen in cricket. We couldn’t execute what we wanted to do, and that’s part of the T20 format. We are not too worried,” Bhuvneshwar said during the post-match presentation.
“The way he is hitting shots – he is not slogging, he is playing proper cricket shots. For a 15-year-old, he is too mature. He deserves all the credit for the way he is batting,” he added.
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The 36-year-old admitted that RCB had managed to reach a par score, despite stuttering at 94/6, thanks to captain Rajat Patidar’s 63 runs in 40 balls and lower-order contributions from
Venkatesh Iyer and Romario Shepherd.
However, he admitted that Sooryavanshi took the game away from RCB in the early stages of the chase.
“Yeah, I mean, with the batting – of course, a few wickets fell in the powerplay. But the run rate was up there, which is what you generally need in T20s. The way Rajat batted, and later Venkatesh Iyer batted, I think we were around a par score. But the way Vaibhav batted – in the powerplay, he took the game away from us. Still, we took it to the 19th over. Overall, it was a tough match for us, but it was well fought,” he added.
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RCB next take on the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
