Rajasthan Royals batter Yashasvi Jaiswal was astounded by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s relatively ease of smashing Jasprit Bumrah all over the park. He claimed that his 15-year-old opening partner relieved him of pressure during the team’s 27-run IPL victory over the Mumbai Indians on a rainy Tuesday night in Guwahati.
Sooryavanshi played up to the hype by smacking an incoming Bumrah 131kph delivery on middle and leg for a first-ball six over mid-on. The first face-off between the unbeatable pacer and the teenage wonder was the buzz of the game.
“First ball, he hit him for a six, and I told him to just keep playing his shots,” PTI quoted Jaiswal as saying.
In an 11-over side match that was cut short due to rain, Jaiswal hit a 32-ball unbeaten 77 to help RR reach 150/3.
Rajasthan Royals moved up to the top of the standings with three victories from three games, while Mumbai Indians managed 123/9 in response to suffer a second straight defeat.
During the 2025 IPL mega auction, the Rajasthan Royals signed the Bihar left-hander for Rs 1.1 crore. With a record-breaking 35-ball century against Gujarat Titans last season, he became the youngest centurion in T20 cricket and the second-fastest in IPL history, displaying hints of his extraordinary skill.
Even though Bumrah was bowling with the new ball on Tuesday, Sooryavanshi was in beast mode right away. Sooryavanshi, who turned 15 the day before IPL 2026 started, set the pace early with a 14-ball 39 in his opening over, hitting two of his five sixes off the MI pace spearhead.
Jaiswal’s confidence skyrocketed, making it easy for them to target other MI bowlers like Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar, who both gave up 22 runs in their overs.
“Of course, Bumrah bhai is one of the legends, so if he’s scoring against him, it’s amazing. It made us feel that other bowlers we can also take down,” said Jaiswal, who hit 10 fours and four sixes while anchoring the innings.
“So it was quite good for him to go out and play his shots. That took the pressure off me, and then I could take on someone else. It was a good partnership, and we really enjoyed it.”
The duo scored 80 runs off just 30 balls to set the tone.
“It’s amazing to bat with Vaibhav. We both like to play our shots, so the way we’re playing, we just keep passing positive messages to each other. I’ve been playing for the last few years, so I just wanted to play according to the situation and give the team the best start,” he said.
Jaiswal is currently the top run scorer (170) with two fifties in three games, and the left-hander stated: “I’ve been really working hard in the nets, trying different shots. A lot depends on the wicket as well. I always try to do something with my batting and make little changes here and there.”
“I just try to live in the present moment and keep enjoying it. I always strive to keep improving,” added the 24-year-old.
“We didn’t know how this game was going to go because of the rain. We needed to adapt, as Mumbai Indians are quite an opposition.”
