Rajasthan Royals' young star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has made history, becoming the first Indian to hit 50 sixes in one IPL season. He achieved this during his fiery knock against Lucknow Super Giants, and is now chasing Chris Gayle's all-time record.
Jaipur:Rajasthan Royals' teenage sensation, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, is on a record-breaking spree in the IPL. In the crucial match against Lucknow Super Giants, he created history by becoming the first Indian batter ever to hit 50 sixes in a single IPL season.
At Jaipur's Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Rajasthan was chasing a massive target of 220 runs set by Lucknow. Vaibhav once again played a saviour's knock for his team. He smashed a blistering 93 runs off just 38 balls, an innings that included 7 fours and 10 sixes. Thanks to Vaibhav's magical performance, Rajasthan Royals cruised to an easy win and kept their playoff hopes alive.
Vaibhav had already broken Abhishek Sharma's 2024 record of 42 sixes during the match against Delhi Capitals, becoming the Indian with the most sixes in a season. He came into the Lucknow match with 43 sixes to his name. In the 11th over of the match against pacer Mayank Yadav, he hit two back-to-back sixes to complete his half-century of sixes for the season. He now has a total of 53 sixes from 13 matches this season.
Vaibhav is now just a stone's throw away from breaking West Indies legend Chris Gayle's all-time record for the most sixes in an IPL season. Gayle had smashed 59 sixes for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2012. Vaibhav needs just 7 more sixes to break that record. Yesterday, he also went past Kolkata's Andre Russell, who was in second place with 52 sixes.
With one league match left against Mumbai Indians, and more games if Rajasthan qualifies for the playoffs, it seems almost certain that the 15-year-old will overtake Gayle's record. Earlier, Vaibhav had also set the record for the most sixes by an Indian player in a single innings. He hit 12 sixes when he scored 103 off 37 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad. After his latest knock, he also grabbed the Orange Cap for being the tournament's top run-scorer with 579 runs from 13 matches. His performance against Lucknow also saw him break Travis Head's record (426 runs) for the second-most runs scored in the powerplay in a single season.
