"Doesn't Matter How Old He Is": Kagiso Rabada's Ultimate Verdict On Vaibhav Sooryvanshi
Sooryavanshi changed gears in from the Eliminator to Qualifier 2, producing scores of 97 and 96, but RR failed to advance to the final, losing to GT in Qualifier 2 by 7 wickets.
South Africa and Gujarat Titans' pace ace Kagiso Rabada observed that Rajasthan Royals' 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been able to dominate the bowlers in this Indian Premier League due to his fast hands and ability to pick the lengths early. Sooryavanshi changed gears in from the Eliminator to Qualifier 2, producing scores of 97 and 96, but RR failed to advance to the final, losing to GT in Qualifier 2 by 7 wickets. Rabada, who denied Sooryavanshi a century in their clash on Friday, told JioHotstar, ”He just keeps amazing everyone who watches the game. He's got such fast hands, and he picks length quickly. He's got so much energy."
“When you're young, you have so much energy and no fear, and that's exactly what he's shown, no fear and just a natural instinct for the game that allows him to perform the way he is performing.” “At this stage, you throw age out of the window; it doesn't matter how old he is. It's amazing what he's doing,” he added.
Rabada played a key role in GT bowlers stifling the RR batters in the first half of the game, returning 4-0-35-2, but said his team's bowlers also missed their marks quite often.
“The plan was to back our strengths, as we normally do, and hopefully get early wickets. We did get two early wickets, but then they fought back, and we missed our mark by bowling a few too many short balls, where we probably wanted to challenge them a bit more upfront,” Rabada said.
“They got away from us a little, but we knew we weren't completely out of it because we knew we could still get wickets. We had the game under control until the 19th over.” “It was pretty tough for Rashid (Khan) to come on and bowl on this wicket as a spinner against some genuine power hitters. We probably felt that 180-190 was what we should have restricted them to, barring the dropped catch (of Sooryavanshi),” he added.
Talking about his bowling partnership with Mohammed Siraj, Rabada said the Indian seamer increases the chances of him taking wickets.
"Siraj's my partner this season. We've just been trying to operate as a partnership. If he's putting pressure on from the other end, then hopefully I can do the same, and that's how we get wickets,” the South African pacer said.
“Everyone knows him. He's got a lot of heart, and he's got a lot of skill too. It's lovely to be bowling with him (as) it just increases your chances of getting a wicket because someone at the other end is applying just as much pressure, if not more,” Rabada added.
Meanwhile, former India captain and head coach Anil Kumble termed Shubman Gill's 53-ball 104 as a “chanceless” innings.
"It was clinical. The way he approached his batting, you could see that he was really switched on and wanted to get to that final. He would obviously have been disappointed with the performance against RCB in Qualifier 1,” Kumble said.
“But the way he batted, he just took the bowlers on. As Sai Sudharsan mentioned, they wanted to go hard in the first over, make a statement, and then continue from there.” “He used his feet brilliantly against Ravindra Jadeja. It was a chanceless, classic innings, a typical Shubman innings. To reach a final with a hundred, it was truly a captain's knock,” Kumble added.
Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said two most consistent teams in the IPL have made it to the final.
"The two most consistent teams have reached the final. Both finished on 18 points after the league stage, so they deserve to be there. I have always said that GT have been the surprise package for me,” said Ashwin.
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Kagiso Rabada
Rajasthan Royals
Gujarat Titans