TimesofIndia.com in Mullanpur: A few days ago, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins admitted to TimesofIndia.com that he could do nothing but go “wow” after Vaibhav Sooryavanshi tore into him during the IPL 2026 league stage.Fast forward to the Eliminator on Wednesday and a bowler of Cummins’ pedigree was left searching for answers once again as the 15-year-old toyed with one of the game’s modern greats.Sooryavanshi’s batting has often been celebrated for the sheer violence of his bat swing, but on Wednesday in Mullanpur, he showed there is far more to his game than brute force. Beyond the power lies a sharp cricketing brain. He was not merely hitting the ball, he was reading the field, anticipating plans and staying a step ahead of one of the world’s best bowlers.The best example came in Cummins’ second over, where the teenager launched a hat-trick of sixes while displaying a maturity well beyond his years. On one delivery, Cummins pushed a fielder back to third man and Sooryavanshi calmly lofted the ball straight down the ground. The field changed again, with third man brought inside the circle and long-off sent back. Cummins tried to tempt the youngster with a short ball, but Sooryavanshi instantly read the plan and upper-cut it over third man for six.Cummins shuffled the field once more — employing two short mid-offs and one mid-on — and rolled his fingers over the ball, taking pace off it. Sooryavanshi picked it early, waited and then smoked it straight back over the bowler’s head for a third successive maximum.This was not reckless ball-striking.This was calculated destruction.In an exhibition of fearless batting that felt like a glimpse into T20 cricket’s future, Sooryavanshi blazed his way to 97 off just 29 deliveries. He fell agonisingly short of the fastest century in IPL history (30 balls), a record held by Chris Gayle for 13 years, but not before surpassing another staggering milestone.Gayle’s tally of 60 sixes in the 2012 season had long stood as a benchmark of power-hitting dominance. Sooryavanshi’s breathtaking assault carried him beyond that mark, with the teenager smoking 12 sixes in an innings that was equal parts mayhem and mastery.
A dejected Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after falling on 97 runs in IPL Eliminator vs SRH. (Screengrab)
Then came the moment nobody, except those wearing Orange, wanted.When Smaran Ravichandran held on to the catch at third man, the stadium briefly fell silent.Sooryavanshi stood frozen. He stared into the distance, almost refusing to believe what had happened. He was just three runs away from immortality, three runs away from the fastest hundred in IPL history. The dream had slipped away in an instant.As Sunrisers Hyderabad players jogged up to pat his back, Sooryavanshi looked inconsolable. He punched his bat in frustration, wearing the heartbreak of every fan in the stadium. Around him, though, thousands rose to their feet because they knew they had witnessed something far greater than a missed record.Records can wait. They can be shattered another day.
Rajasthan Royals’ Vaibhav Sooryavanshi plays a shot during the IPL 2026 Eliminator match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. (ANI Photo)
After the match, Sooryavanshi admitted his mistake in the dismissal. “I played that shot purposefully because I saw the fielder where he was standing. I tried to hit it much squarer. Had I played the ramp towards third man, it would’ve gone away to the fence,” he told broadcasters.What unfolded in Mullanpur will not be about the three more runs and everything that came with it. It was about a 15-year-old walking onto one of cricket’s biggest stages and making seasoned international stars look ordinary. It was about fearlessness, clarity and audacity. It was about a teenager batting as if pressure was merely a word in the dictionary.The scoreboard will remember it as 97 off 29 balls. The IPL may remember it as the night Vaibhav Sooryavanshi told the world he could do this in pressure cooker games just the way he has in league encounters.But those who watched it unfold will remember something else.They will remember the night the future arrived.