(ESPNCRICINFO) – Vaibhav Sooryavanshi equalled his own record for the fastest half-century, off 15 balls, in a six-fest on a flat Guwahati deck as Rajasthan Royals walloped Royal Challengers Bengaluru for their fourth straight win.
RCB hit seven sixes through their 20 overs in an innings where they went all out, seemingly mindful of the challenge Sooryavanshi would pose. And pose he did, hitting seven sixes off his own blade, in a scarcely believable exhibition of brutal hitting.
Reputation counted for little. If it was Jasprit Bumrah the other night, it was Josh Hazlewood’s turn to come under Sooryavanshi’s wheel on Friday. By the time he was dismissed for a 26-ball 78, toe-ending a flat-batted hit to long-on off Krunal Pandya, RR’s asking rate in a 202 chase was just over six with 11.5 overs remaining.
Sooryavanshi’s uninhibited hitting was matched by Dhruv Jurel’s scintillating stroke play, as the pair effectively snuffed out RCB’s hopes in the powerplay itself as they plundered 97 – the highest of the season. Although RR lost a couple of wickets in a rush thereafter, the result was never really in doubt.
Sooryavanshi’s wild ride
RCB’s defence was given an early lift when the returning Hazlewood struck in the second over to remove Yashasvi Jaiswal. After conceding a couple of sixes off the short ball, Hazlewood responded smartly by going cross-seam and into the pitch to induce the edge. But the delight at having struck early dissipated quickly as Sooryavanshi seized control by rattling off three boundaries and a six in succession in his next over.
Each of the four boundaries pierced a different arc. The short ball was carved behind point, the hard length into the pitch was muscled over mid-on, the fuller one driven crisply between cover and mid-off, and when tested with the bumper, Sooryavanshi fetched it from outside off and nailed the pull over deep square for six.
And remarkably, it wasn’t just Hazlewood under the pump. Bhuvneshwar Kumar – who had nearly dismissed him first ball with a late-curving inswinging yorker, only for the teenager to dig it out and shovel it straight back for four – was also taken apart. In the fifth over, Sooryavanshi swatted him for back-to-back sixes to bring up his half-century.
Jurel matches Sooryavanshi’s blitz
Keeping pace with Sooryavanshi stroke for stroke can’t be easy, but Jurel managed it seamlessly, without ever looking like he was trying to. He capped off the powerplay by hitting rookie Abhinandan Singh for a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 0, 6, 4 to end an extraordinary passage.
Jurel’s fast hands were the defining feature of that over – whether it was picking length early to pull or using his wrists to whip the ball into the top tier over deep square. He would later take charge of the innings, tightening his approach after a flurry of wickets, and finishing unbeaten on 76 off 36 balls.






