Rajasthan Royals batting coach Vikram Rathour provided a positive update on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after the 15-year-old walked off the field during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Saturday. The incident happened on the final delivery of the third over, bowled by Jofra Archer. Ishan Kishan lofted the ball over cover, and Sooryavanshi ran to stop it from going to the boundary ropes.
However, midway through his chase, Sooryavanshi stopped, clutching his hamstring and grimacing in pain. The physio came charging out, and after attending to him for a couple of minutes, the official decided that Sooryavanshi needed to be taken off the field.
After the match between Sunrisers and Royals ended with the former winning by five wickets, the RR coach was asked for an update on Sooryavanshi, and he then revealed that there’s nothing serious and that the youngster seems to be “okay.”
“He was feeling something in his hamstring, but now he’s looking okay. They’ve treated him, so he’s looking fine. We’ll know in a day or two, but it doesn’t look like anything serious,” Rathour told reporters in the post-match press conference.
The Sooryavanshi blitz
In the match against Sunrisers, Sooryavanshi brought his absolute best to the table, hitting a 36-ball century and eventually returning with a knock of 103 with 5 fours and 12 sixes. He maintained a strike rate of 278.38 and is currently in second place in the Orange Cap leaderboard, only behind Abhishek Sharma.
In the post-match presser, even Rathour was at a loss for words to describe Sooryavanshi’s brilliance, calling the youngster a really special player.
“Uske baare me jitna bolna tha, bol diya bhai (Everything has already been said about Vaibhav). He is a very special player. He has been playing really well,” said Rathour.
In the IPL 2026 season, Sooryavanshi has smashed three half-centuries off just 15 balls. On Saturday, he registered the second-fastest century by an Indian in the IPL. The record belongs to the youngster himself as he notched up a ton off 35 balls against the Gujarat Titans last year.
Sooryavanshi has a total of 357 runs to his name in the eight matches he has played in IPL 2026 so far at an average of 44.63 and a strike rate of 234.86. He is striking the ball better than the likes of Abhishek Sharma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Prabhsimran Singh.
Speaking of the game between SRH and RR, the former chased the total of 229 with five wickets in hand and nine balls to spare, owing to Ishan Kishan’s and Abhishek’s knocks of 74 and 57, respectively. With this win, SRH also moved to the third spot in the points table.