Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made sure he settled scores with Praful Hinge in the reverse fixture after the SRH pacer had dismissed him for a duck in Hyderabad. This time in Jaipur, there was no room for error. The youngster came out with clear intent and tore into Hinge, smashing four sixes in a row in his very first over to send out a strong message. At just 15, Sooryavanshi has emerged as one of the biggest talking points of this IPL, and rightly so, lighting up the tournament with his fearless and free-flowing strokeplay. Hyderabad may have escaped his charge in the earlier meeting, but in Jaipur, they had no such luck.
It didn’t begin perfectly, though. Beaten off the first ball he faced, Sooryavanshi quickly turned the tide. He launched the third delivery over deep square leg, followed it up with another maximum over long leg, and then went even bigger with back-to-back sixes over long-on and long-off. Four in a row in the opening over completely shifted the momentum in Rajasthan’s favour and put the opposition on the back foot straightaway.
The intent didn’t drop even against the best. Pat Cummins, returning from injury, was greeted with a six off the very first ball Sooryavanshi faced against him, underlining his fearless approach. Big names have mattered little to him this season, with Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar all finding themselves under pressure against the teenager’s relentless attacking game.
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He raced to a half-century off just 15 balls, a feat he had already managed twice earlier this season against RCB and CSK. The young sensation continued to light up the IPL, showing no signs of slowing down against SRH as he kept the pressure firmly on the bowlers with his attacking strokeplay throughout the innings.
Pat Cummins returns to lead SRH
Earlier, Pat Cummins, leading Sunrisers Hyderabad, won the toss and opted to field against Rajasthan Royals in their IPL clash on Saturday. It marked Cummins’ first appearance in the ongoing season and his return to competitive cricket after a long layoff, having last featured in December during the third Ashes Test against England in The Ashes. The Australian pacer had been sidelined due to a back injury, which also delayed his start to the IPL campaign. SRH made two changes to their XI, bringing in Cummins in place of Dilshan Madushanka and Praful Hinge replacing Harsh Dubey.