Fifteen-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is writing new chapters in IPL history, delivering a season-defining moment in the IPL 2026 Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad in New Chandigarh. Rajasthan Royals’ opening batter pushed the game into a different stratosphere in what was arguably the biggest match of his team’s campaign, smashing a record that had stood for 14 years. In the process, he turned a high-stakes chase-or-battle scenario into a personal showcase of power, timing, and composure.
Sooryavanshi reached his half-century in only 16 balls, and with that acceleration he became the batter with the highest number of sixes in a single IPL season. The tally now reads 61* for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (2026), edging past Chris Gayle’s longstanding marks of 59 in 2012, along with Andre Russell’s 52 in 2019 and Gayle’s 51 in 2013. Jos Buttler’s 45 in 2022 remains notable in the same list, but Sooryavanshi has now claimed the top spot at just 15 years old. The benchmark had been untouched since Gayle’s famous 2012 campaign, making the teenager’s leap even more striking.
That milestone-filled knock carried even more weight beyond the six-hitting record. Sooryavanshi also became the youngest player ever to reach 600 runs in a single IPL season, surpassing the previous standard set by Rishabh Pant, who had achieved the milestone for Delhi Daredevils back in 2018. Even more remarkable is what came before this season: prior to IPL 2026, no batter had managed to score 550 or more runs in a tournament at a strike rate above 200. Sooryavanshi is now the first player to combine that kind of run volume with that level of ruthless scoring efficiency in the same season.
The innings arrived in a pressure-packed Eliminator at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, after Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bowl first. With Rajasthan already facing mounting tension following two earlier losses to Hyderabad in the same season, the opener refused to let the occasion weigh on him. From the outset, Sooryavanshi took the SRH attack apart, playing with the kind of fearless intent that has become a hallmark of his breakout rise.
By the end, the performance didn’t just add another headline to his record-breaking run—it further underlined why he has emerged as the breakout superstar of IPL 2026 and one of the most remarkable teenage talents ever seen in the league.
