Mumbai: After launching the ball to all corners of the ground in Jaipur, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi dropped his gloves, then his helmet, and raised a salute towards his dugout.
These were special scenes in this IPL’s first game at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, but this wasn’t the first time the ground witnessed a Sooryavanshi special.
If the 15-year-old’s maiden IPL ton last year on the same ground signalled the arrival of a sensation, his second on Saturday underlined the potential of a star.
No hundred, however, not even a 36-ball blitz while blasting 12 sixes to score 103, seems enough in this IPL. And no total safe. Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) 228/6 too wasn’t, as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), chasing for the first time this season, overhauled it with five wickets and nine balls to spare.
The latest stroll in the park to a 200-plus target was down to a combination of things: the pitch, the hosts’ misfiring middle order, and their poor catching.
Travis Head was dropped first ball by Dhruv Jurel and even though that didn’t cost much, Abhishek Sharma’s twin lives did.
SRH’s last-match centurion got his first reprieve in the 4th over when Shimron Hetmyer appeared to lose sight of the ball at third man, and the second in the next over when Ravindra Jadeja spilled a sitter at point.
Abhishek (57, 29b) was all too happy to cash in for a 24-ball half-century. No.3 Ishan Kishan (74, 31b), who also took the same number of balls to his fifty, was even more impressive in his first outing without leadership duties this season. The two left-handers punished an RR bowling attack that, barring Jofra Archer, was largely ill-disciplined.
The powerplay fetched two 19-run overs and once SRH had raced to 89/1 in the first six and 139/2 at the halfway mark, there was no stopping them. Not even a fiery Archer, especially with catches continuing to go down.
And so, for a third straight match in this IPL, a batter’s first-innings century went in a losing cause. But, this was some century.
Dismissed for a first-ball duck when the two teams met two weeks ago, Sooryavanshi went top gear in the reverse fixture. Praful Hinge had three wickets in his opening over that day and on this day, he had four sixes by Sooryavanshi. A pull to the upper tier, a thick top-edge over fine leg, and a couple on the up in the V either side of the wicket.
The kid was flaunting his full arc. He was depositing Pat Cummins for a maximum first ball. He was smashing Sakib Hussain, who had not been hit for a six in this IPL before this match, over the ropes for fun. He was, for a change, switch-hitting spinner Shivang Kumar to the boundary.
RR were flying on the back of Sooryavanshi, who was dropped on 32, despite Yashasvi Jaiswal going back early and Jurel at almost run-a-ball to 25 before cutting loose.
Sooryavanshi reached his landmark with a maximum over long-on. The next ball, a cheeky reverse ramp attempt trapped him in front. RR were 170/3 in the 14th over then. They ended up at 228/6, after a below-par 44 runs in the last five overs.