Virender Sehwag was impressed with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after the teenager dismantled Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s bowling department with ease on Friday. The RR opener smacked 78 runs off 26 balls, including eight fours and seven sixes, striking at 300.0. The 15-year-old has continued on his sensational form into IPL 2026, and this season, he has gone a notch higher.
Sooryavanshi is also in pole position in the Orange Cap race with 200 runs in four matches, averaging 50.00 and striking at 266.66. The RR opener has registered two half-centuries this season. Taking to X, former India cricketer Sehwag expressed his excitement for Sooryavanshi, noting that ‘sky is the limit’ for him.
Speaking on Cricbuzz, Sehwag was asked why experts are praising Sooryavanshi a lot. The former cricketer was brutally honest and said that the RR star’s performance justifies the praise.
Sehwag also compared Sooryavanshi to India opener Abhishek Sharma, stating that the latter is not receiving similar praise, despite having a similar batting approach. Sharma was in poor form before IPL 2026; he got out three times in a row in his three group-stage games against USA, Pakistan and the Netherlands during the 2026 T20 World Cup. In the final, he did finally find his form, smacking 52 runs off 21 balls. But he has once again found it tough in the ongoing IPL 2026 season. The SRH star has only managed 55 runs in three matches, with an average of 18.33 and a strike rate of 177.41.
“He is playing in such a way that people are obviously going to talk about him. Why aren’t we talking so much about other players, compared to how much we are talking about Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. He is showing it to us by performing, the way he is batting at 15-years-old, even experienced players aren’t being able to do that. Abhishek Sharma is also an aggressive power-hitter, but we haven’t said that he is dangerous. So dangerous has only been given to Sooryavanshi. What he is doing is, not just in one match, in the previous game vs MI, he got 39 off 14 in front of Bumrah. Today it is 78 off 26. He is a kid, but taking on elders,” he said.
“People should praise him and talk about him. When he gets out by playing a similar shot, we will be the ones to criticise him, warning him and questioning his shot selection. Right now, we haven’t even praised him that much; we have done it to a normal limit,” he added.
It was an utterly dominant performance from Sooryavanshi, as Rajasthan Royals won by six wickets, also keeping their unbeaten run intact. RR are currently on top of the table with four wins in four games.
Chasing 202 runs, RR cruised to 201/8 in 20 overs. Other than Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel at No. 3 was also in hot form, registering an unbeaten knock of 78* runs off 26 balls, packed with eight fours and seven sixes.
Initially, Rajat Patidar’s 40-ball 63 took RCB to 201/8 in 20 overs. For RR, Jofra Archer, Ravindra Jadeja and Brijesh Sharma took two-wicket hauls.
Speaking after the match, Sooryavanshi opened up about his ongoing campaign and his lack of fear against star veteran pacers. “At the back of the mind it stays that who is bowling, but I was trying to play the ball, not look at the bowler, and play the ball according to what it is, play my game.”
Speaking about his attacking approach while batting, he said, “I just try to do what I do in practice, do the same, don’t try anything extra and back my natural game.”