Jasprit Bumrah tried it. Josh Hazlewood tried it. Bhuvneshwar Kumar tried it. The result was the same. Boundaries flowed as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi showed no regard for the stature of the bowler.
On Tuesday, it was Arshdeep Singh who was pitted against the boy wonder. Despite not being in the best of form in IPL 2026, the surface at the New Chandigarh venue had something in it for the bowlers. Yet the result was…
Arshdeep seemed to have a plan for Sooryavanshi. After the 15-year-old was put on strike on the second ball of the opening over, the left-arm seamer bowled two outswinging yorkers, and the batter could do little more than jam them out. Had Arshdeep finally found the answer to keeping Sooryavanshi quiet? A resounding “No” came the response from the Rajasthan Royals opener.
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Arshdeep missed the yorker length on the next ball, an inswinging delivery, and Sooryavanshi whipped it over deep backward square for six. Another similar ball followed, this time on a good length, and the left-hander muscled it towards deep square for a boundary. The punishment did not stop there. Arshdeep went short and wide, and Sooryavanshi went on the back foot to slap it through deep extra cover for another boundary.
After collecting 14 runs in the first over, Sooryavanshi went after Lockie Ferguson in the second. A short delivery on the fourth ball took a thick top edge and flew over first slip for a boundary. He might have been fortunate on that occasion, but not on the next two deliveries. Ferguson went full on middle and leg, and the batter produced a helicopter shot to flick it over deep mid-wicket for six. Ferguson then took the pace off the final ball with a knuckleball, but the genius that is Sooryavanshi anticipated it. He got forward and lofted it cleanly for a flat six down the ground.
An over later, Arshdeep returned, but this time with a Plan B. He went around the wicket to cramp Sooryavanshi for room. The batter responded with a six off the first ball, but sliced the next one—a full toss on middle—as it went straight up, with Shreyas Iyer running back from mid-off to take a comfortable catch.
Sooryavanshi departed for 43 off 16. The damage had been done with his brutal assault in the powerplay, but Arshdeep will still take that as a win.