Mullanpur: The cricketing world once again bowed down to the generational talent of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi following his six-laden 97 off 29 balls before Jofra Archer broke the backbone of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s muscular batting to set up a 47-run win for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL Eliminator here on Wednesday.
The 15-year-old Sooryavanshi smashed as many as 12 sixes in his breathtaking knock and missed the IPL’s fastest hundred by just a few yards.
Rajasthan Royals slipped to 243 for eight after an ordinary last five overs, but the runs proved more than enough for them against a power-packed Sunrisers who exited the tournament after getting all out for 196 in 19.2 overs.
Sooryavanshi smashed a breathtaking 97 off just 28 balls to power RR to 243/8, a total that proved far beyond SRH’s reach despite a spirited fightback in the chase. The 15-year-old brought up a 16-ball fifty, equalling Suresh Raina’s record for the fastest half-century in an IPL playoff. He also went past Chris Gayle for the most sixes in a T20 tournament. Sooryavanshi missed Gayle’s record for the fastest IPL century by just three runs when he top-edged Praful Hinge to deep third on 97, but not before completely dismantling SRH’s bowling plans.
Pat Cummins began with defensive fields and yorkers aimed at damage control, but Sooryavanshi’s onslaught turned the Power-play into chaos. RR stormed to 63 without loss in four overs and reached 125/1 in just eight overs. At the other end, Yashasvi Jaiswal struggled to 29 off 29 balls in what turned out to be one of the strangest supporting acts in T20 cricket.
The momentum barely dipped after Sooryavanshi’s dismissal. Dhruv Jurel hammered a 20-ball fifty, taking apart Cummins with scoops, pulls and straight hits as RR raced to 192/3 in 13.5 overs. Riyan Parag chipped in with 26, while late cameos from Donovan Ferreira and Ravindra Jadeja carried RR past the 240-run mark despite a disciplined finish from Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Chasing 244, SRH began disastrously. Archer struck with the second ball of the innings, forcing Abhishek Sharma (0) to glove a sharp short ball to the wicketkeeper. However, SRH responded aggressively as Ishan Kishan blasted 33 off 11 balls while Travis Head joined the assault, taking the score to 51/1 in 2.4 overs in a thrilling start.
Archer, though, turned the game decisively in RR’s favour. Kishan (33) edged to cover while attempting another attacking shot, and soon after, Nandre Burger dismissed Ravichandran Smaran (1) with a hard-length delivery. Archer then produced a 150kph thunderbolt to bowl Head (17), leaving SRH reeling at 57/4 in 4.4 overs.
Heinrich Klaasen (18) briefly revived hopes with a towering six off leg-spinner Yash Raj Punja, but RR successfully reviewed an lbw decision after he missed a reverse sweep. SRH continued to attack through Nitish Kumar Reddy and Impact Player Salil Arora, whose 50-run stand came off just 19 balls, but RR kept striking at regular intervals. Jadeja dismissed Reddy for 38 off 20 by cramping him for room, while Pat Cummins (1) fell trying to clear long-on, with Archer taking a fine catch at the boundary.
Arora kept fighting and added 24 runs with Shivang Kumar, who later stitched another 24-run stand with Eshan Malinga, but wickets continued to tumble as RR sealed a convincing 47-run victory.
Archer finished with figures of 3/58 from four overs — expensive on paper, especially after Shivang Kumar took 16 runs off his 17th over — but the numbers did not fully reflect his influence on the contest. He removed Abhishek Sharma with the second ball of the chase, dismissed the dangerous Ishan Kishan, and then shattered Travis Head’s stumps with sheer pace. Those three early wickets tilted the Eliminator firmly in the Rajasthan Royals’ favour. Jadeja, Burger and Sushant claimed two wickets each.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 243/8 in 20 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 97, Dhruv Jurel 50; Praful Hinge 3-54) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 196 all out in 19.2 overs (Ishan Kishan 38, Nitish Kumar Reddy 38; Jofra Archer 3-58, Ravindra Jadeja 3-21) by 47 runs.
