Days after he turned 15, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi ensured that his IPL initiation last season was anything but a fluke as he pulverised Chennai Super Kings at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati on Monday.
Opening the batting in his second season for the in a 128-run chase, the swashbuckling left-handed batter razed down the bowling within the Powerplay. Having received an early reprieve from a drop from ’s Kartik Sharma, Sooryavanshi sped to a 15-ball half-century, the joint-third fastest fifty.
While he eventually fell on 52 off 17 deliveries on the back of five sixes and four fours, Sooryavanshi had all but sealed the chase. Rajasthan cruised past the target in 13 overs with eight wickets to spare.
“The plan today was simply to execute well in the Powerplay. Initially, the wicket felt a bit sticky, but as the ball got older, it started coming onto the bat nicely,” Sooryavanshi told broadcasters after the win.
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“I do think about defence, but today we planned to control the game in the Powerplay because in a small chase, that phase is crucial. If the bowling team does well there, the game can tilt their way, but our Powerplay went really well,” he added.
The Bihar prodigy opened up about how the coaches had backed him to continue with his belligerent strokeplay even when others had cautioned him against sustained attacks from the bowlers.
“The coaches didn’t specifically say that bowlers would attack me – everyone else was already saying that (unko chhodke baaki puri duniya yeh bol hi rahi thi). They just told me that they back me and that I should stick to my natural game and play according to the situation,” Sooryavanshi explained.
Sooryavanshi said chats with his senior opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal also helped him out in the middle. The pair have been a successful association for RR, crossing 50-run stands in five of the eight innings thus far.
“My opening partner (Jaiswal) keeps communicating with me after every ball – he tells me when to take singles, keeps giving me the strike, and encourages me to keep playing my shots if the ball is coming nicely onto the bat,” he concluded.
