You don’t have too many options: Cummins on Sooryavanshi blitz

Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins admitted that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi leaves bowlers with “not too many options” after the 15-year-old’s breathtaking assault powered Rajasthan Royals into Qualifier 2 of IPL 2026.

Sooryavanshi smashed a sensational 97 off just 29 balls in the Eliminator in New Chandigarh on Wednesday, tearing apart the SRH bowling attack and helping Royals post a massive 243 for 8 before sealing a comfortable 47-run win.

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Cummins himself bore the brunt of the teenager’s fearless hitting. Of Sooryavanshi’s 97 runs, 31 came against the Australian pacer, who started positively with a couple of yorkers in the opening over before the momentum completely shifted.

After defending the first yorker and taking a single off the next delivery, Sooryavanshi capitalised on the moment Cummins missed his length slightly, launching him straight down the ground for six. In the next over from the SRH skipper, the youngster hammered him for 4, 6, 6 and 6 in a brutal display of clean hitting.

“Yeah, he played pretty well. (You) don’t feel like you have too many options,” Cummins said after the match. “Obviously, it’s a really good pitch, but the margins are so small, you know. You miss your yorker by a little bit [and] he doesn’t tend to miss them. So yeah, fair play.”

Sooryavanshi’s innings once again underlined the fearless approach that has made him one of the breakout stars of the season. The teenager attacked from the outset, showing no hesitation against one of world cricket’s premier fast bowlers.

Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag later explained that the team consciously avoids overcomplicating things for the youngster and instead allows him the freedom to express himself naturally.

“That’s the thing, we don’t have any conversations,” Parag said at the post-match presentation. “Yeah, just leave him alone, let him go and have fun. He likes batting, as I’ve said before, so we get him a lot of batting practice at the nets and stuff like that, and then he goes out and does his thing.”

Jofra Archer, who struck early with the ball to derail SRH’s chase, also praised Sooryavanshi and backed him to produce even bigger innings in the future.

“It was very exciting. The more runs he scores, the more runs we have to defend, so he can go on and get 150. It’s good for the boys when he gets a lot of runs,” Archer said.

The win sent Rajasthan Royals into Qualifier 2 against Gujarat Titans, with Friday’s match once again set to be played in New Chandigarh, where RR remain unbeaten this season.