Former India captain Anil Kumble praised teenage swashbuckler Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for his “brilliant” assault against pace ace Jasprit Bumrah in the IPL 2026 match in Guwahati, saying that the Mumbai Indians seemed to lack desire and purpose in their 27-run loss to Rajasthan Royals.
With the help of Sooryavanshi’s 14-ball blitzkrieg of 39 and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s brilliant undefeated 77, RR easily defeated Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai Indians. In the rain-shortened 11-overs-a-side match, their effort set the tone for a 150-run total.
The Mumbai Indians were restricted to 123/9, and their top order suffered a collective failure. MI suffered their second defeat in three games, while Rajasthan Royals won their third straight game.
“It felt like the Mumbai Indians lacked a bit of purpose and intent with the ball, and that certainly spilled over into the batting. It was always going to be a big task to score 151 in 11 overs,” PTI quoted Kumble saying on JioStar.
Kumble was astounded by Sooryavanshi’s self-confidence in facing a bowler of Bumrah’s calibre, hitting a six off the very first delivery.
“Sooryavanshi makes it look easy against one of the world’s best bowlers. First ball, he hits him (Bumrah) for a six and then sets him up. He set the bowler up, not the other way around. We’ve generally seen Bumrah set up batters so many times, but here, Sooryavanshi set Bumrah up to bowl that slower ball on the third delivery, and he was waiting for it to hit him for another six,” Kumble said.
“It was brilliant batting by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, just the way he strikes the ball and the consistency he has shown in terms of strike-rate. He is striking at close to 300 in every game and scoring more than 30 runs consistently, which is outstanding,” added Kumble.
He also commended Rajasthan Royals’ bowlers’ effort, pointing out their unrelenting aggression, raw pace, and capacity to regularly cause problems for the opposition.
“The way the Rajasthan Royals bowlers came in, you could see the intent. They wanted to hit the deck hard. They have pace, both the opening fast bowlers, and they also took the pace off effectively,” he said.
“It wasn’t full like how Deepak Chahar bowled, it was more about hitting the deck. Sandeep Sharma once again proved what a reliable fast bowler he is, becoming a nemesis for Rohit Sharma yet again.”
RR beat MI in every aspect of the game, according to former South African cricketer Faf du Plessis.
“It was a great effort by the Rajasthan Royals. They didn’t miss a beat. I thought they were superior to MI in all three departments. The way they came in and hit their lengths was beautiful to watch, and who can forget that opening partnership? The two youngsters at the top are really taking this IPL by storm,” said Du Plessis.
