Rajasthan Royals' 15-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored 97 off 29 balls, breaking Chris Gayle's record for most sixes in a season.
The pressure of the big stage was nowhere to be seen on Vaibhav. He adopted an aggressive approach from the very first ball and dismantled the Hyderabad bowlers.
The young opener played magnificent shots all around the ground. His batting displayed a wonderful blend of confidence and talent.
Vaibhav played an explosive innings of 97 runs facing just 29 balls. During this knock, his bat produced 12 towering sixes, which forced the spectators in the stadium to dance with joy.
Although he missed his maiden IPL century by just 3 runs, his innings had laid a strong foundation for Rajasthan Royals' victory. His batting had demoralized the opposition team.
During his innings, Vaibhav rained sixes in such a way that a major record of the 'Universe Boss' Chris Gayle was also shattered.
Chris Gayle had hit 59 sixes in the 2015 IPL season, which was the highest number of sixes by any batsman in a single season until now.
Vaibhav has now reached the top of this list by hitting 65 sixes in the tournament so far. He has set a new benchmark by surpassing a legend like Gayle.
After his record was broken, Chris Gayle himself became a fan of Vaibhav's batting. He praised the young player extensively on the social media platform 'X'.
Gayle wrote, 'What a player Vaibhav is. A very good young entertainer! New Six Machine.'
Indian T20 team captain Suryakumar Yadav also couldn't stop himself from praising this young sensation. He wrote, 'Have courage, boy. What a class innings, you took everyone's breath away.'
After the match, when Vaibhav was asked about missing his century, his answer won everyone's heart.
He said, 'I found out after the match (that I was close to a century). My focus was only on hitting sixes and scoring as many runs as possible for the team.' This shows that for him, the team's interest is above personal achievements.
While Vaibhav wreaked havoc with the bat, Jofra Archer did the same with the ball. Archer broke the back of Hyderabad's batting by taking the big wickets of Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, and Ishan Kishan in the powerplay itself.
The Hyderabad team could never recover from these early blows and was all out for 196 runs in 19.2 overs. Rajasthan won the match by 47 runs, securing their place in Qualifier 2.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi's historic performance has not only brought Rajasthan Royals one step closer to the title but has also given Indian cricket a new superstar for the future.
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