With his batting blitz, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has stunned the cricket world. Renowned analyst Ian Bishop believes the teen sensation’s strong mental and mechanical skills have enabled him to overcome elite bowlers in the IPL.
In IPL 2026, Sooryavanshi has poleaxed a number of elite bowlers, including Josh Hazlewood, Trent Boult, and Jasprit Bumrah.
“I think his psychological make-up is efficient, enough to take on the best bowlers in the world. He took on Jasprit Bumrah. Technically, he’s kind of unique with his bat swing, more like a baseball sort of swing,” PTI quoted Bishop telling the media.
According to Bishop, there is no obvious weakness in Sooryavanshi’s batting, which makes seasoned bowlers desperately search for other strategies to deal with the 15-year-old.
“It’s very hard to see exactly what his weakness is because the back of a length delivery has worked against him, for example, in the under-19 World Cup and against Sunrisers Hyderabad. But then if you don’t get that back-of-a-length delivery where he pulls and top edges early, those same deliveries disappear out of the park.
“So, I think, technically, he’s set up very well. He has a number of world-class bowlers in this tournament going through plan A, plan B, plan C, plan E, F, and G. And that’s a good sign that he has all these veterans of the game, having to go through a whole host of plans as they try to go yorker, yorker, at him in the previous game. So I think he’s set up well,” he added.
In light of this, the former West Indies fast bowler expressed hope that the pitches will continue to provide batters and bowlers with equal opportunity, increasing the tournament’s diversity.
“I like the mix of pitches that a tournament can produce. I want to see some of those good batting surfaces where the batsmen hold sway. But I also want to see the surface like Delhi produced, the surface that LSG produces, that offers fast bowlers something.
“The Mumbai vs CSK game where the ball ripped at the back end and (spinners) Akeal Hossain and Noor Ahmad came into the game big time. So, you don’t want the pitches to be homogenous. So, you want a nice mix as you go through the tournament,” he said.
The five-time champions Mumbai Indians have struggled to create an impression in IPL 2026, finishing in ninth place with just four points regardless of the venue. Bishop stated that in order for MI to turn things around, their bowlers will need to step up.
“If I had to identify one area, I would think it is from a bowling perspective because when I go through the numbers, Mumbai are at the bottom of the ladder of all the teams stacked by order of success from a bowling perspective.
“And that, to me, is problematic because I know we’re having a paradigm shift in the way T20 cricket and the IPL is played. I think Mumbai are still capable of getting runs. But I feel that their bowling needs to live up to its potential and ability to win games.
“A big part of that has been, let’s say, Trent Boult, maybe not in his best form, not getting the ball to swing as much. Certainly Jasprit Bumrah, not in his best form for whatever reason. So, bowling is the thing that I think needs a step up most,” he noted.
So, can some of the important MI players—like Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma—who have been having trouble putting on steady performances in the 2026 Indian Premier League be permitted to take a brief sabbatical in order to go back to their best?
As Revenge Week in the IPL approaches, MI’s next matchup with bitter foe CSK in Chennai is sure to be exciting.
“What they put out to win that T20 World Cup at home must have been exhausting. Ideally, I would like to have seen some of those guys and particularly, let’s say who was excellent right across that World Cup and a big part of why India won, being given a break to refresh, to find, to sit back, analyse, rest yourself, come back mentally strong.
“But also to fine-tune whatever skills or planning that would take you to another level. But that’s not the case because they’re contracted to the franchises. The franchise is a separate thing from the international team.
So my thing would be, ideally, I would like to have seen those guys get a few days’ break to really enjoy the success they brought to the country and to refresh themselves,” said Bishop.
