Vaibhav Suryavanshi enhanced his ever-growing reputation as a wonderkid during Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) six-wicket win against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Friday, April 10.
Chasing a 202-run target, Suryavanshi lost his opening partner, Yashasvi Jaiswal, in the second over. However, the 15-year-old made up for that setback with an immaculate display of ball-striking against a strong RCB bowling attack. The Bihar batter amassed 78 off 26 balls, belting eight fours and seven sixes and finished with a strike rate of 300.
He eventually holed out to Virat Kohli at long-on in the ninth over, while trying to hit Krunal Pandya for a maximum. However, he had already taken his team to a position of strength by then. While Rajasthan did lose a couple of wickets cheaply after Suryavanshi’s dismissal, Dhruv Jurel (81*) and Ravindra Jadeja (24*) took the team home in 18 overs.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag hailed Suryavanshi as the most dangerous batter, likening him to international stars like Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Abhishek Sharma. However, the cricketer-turned-expert warned that a day would come when the fans and experts will criticise him for the way he gets dismissed.
“I would not call him aggressive, I’d say that he is the most dangerous batter. You look at Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhishek Sharma, how many batters are there that can score 78 runs in just 25-26 balls? It is not as if a child is bowling to him. When he gets out after playing such a shot, we will be the same ones who will criticise him (in the future),” Virender Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
RCB’s think tank thought they’ll bring in Hazlewood and get Suryavanshi out: Manoj Tiwary
Former India all-rounder Manoj Tiwary stated that RCB brought Josh Hazlewood into their line-up and thought that the Australian seamer would get the better of Suryavanshi. However, that didn’t turn out to be fruitful. Hazlewood bowled four deliveries to the southpaw and conceded three fours and one six.
“There is some section of people in our population who don’t watch IPL that much. But the way he is playing, even that portion of opeple will watch the game for his batting. RCB’s think tank thought they’ll bring in Hazlewood and get Suryavanshi out. When Suryavanshi was smashing Hazlewood, I was thinking ‘Aa gaya swaad?’ (Got the taste now?),” Manoj Tiwary said.
