On Wednesday, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi knocked away SRH with a stormy performance in the IPL 2026 Eliminators. With a massive score of 97 runs out of just 29 balls, the 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals’ batter conquered the record of Chris Gayle for the most sixes hit in an IPL season. Let us have a look at some of Vaibhav’s statistics, which led him to a record-breaking performance.
Sooryavanshi overtakes Gayle with the most sixes.
With 65 sixes in IPL 2026, Sooryavanshi broke the record of Chris Gayle’s 59 sixes out of 456 balls in IPL 2012. In IPL 2026, Vaibhav just took 266 balls to reach the target. He took only 29 balls to hit 12 sixes during the Eliminators against SRH, which is the highest by any Indian batter in an IPL innings.
Vaibhav’s sixers break Gill’s and Gayle’s records.
Vaibhav took fewer than 30 balls to hit 12 sixes and broke Shubman Gill’s record of 10 sixes against MI during Qualifier 2 in 2023. Simultaneously, he overtook Gayle’s record, who took 27 balls to complete 10 sixes in 2013 against Pune Warriors India. Vaibhav took only 24 balls for 10 sixes.
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Sooryavanshi equals Raina on fastest fifty.
Sooryavanshi took only 16 balls to complete his fifty against SRH in the IPL playoffs on the Eliminators. In 2014, Suresh Raina also struck a half-century off 16 balls when playing for CSK against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in Qualifier 2. By this, Sooryavanshi has completed his fifty 5 times, keeping him just behind David Warner, who had a record of completing fifty 6 times during powerplay in an IPL match.
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Sooryavanshi’s increasing strike rate
Vaibhav’s strike rate this season averages 242.85 with a score of 680 runs in 15 innings. He is the first batter after Rilee Rossouw, with more than 600 runs and a strike rate of more than 200 in a T20 tournament.
During the match against SRH in the Eliminators, Sooryavanshi’s strike rate was 334.48 with a score of 97 runs in 29 balls. It is the highest for any batter in an IPL innings to score 90 or more runs. He overtook Rajat Patidar, who scored an unbeatable 93 off 33 balls against the Gujarat Titans on Tuesday in Qualifier 1. He equalled Kieron Pollard in terms of a strike rate of more than 300.
With a power-packed performance from Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the Eliminators, RR is set to face GT in the Qualifiers 2 on Friday. Winning it will qualify them for the finals, where they will face the defending champions, RCB.
