"Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Is Too Matured For A 15-Year-Old": RCB Star's Big Praise For RR Wonderkid
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi blazed his way to a stunning 78 off just 26 balls before Dhruv Jurel anchored the chase with an unbeaten 81, as Rajasthan Royals put past defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
He may be just 15 years of age, but Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is already batting with a clarity and composure that defy his age, said Royal Challengers Bengaluru seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Sooryavanshi blazed his way to a stunning 78 off just 26 balls before Dhruv Jurel anchored the chase with an unbeaten 81, as Rajasthan Royals put past defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets and two overs to spare, stretching their unbeaten run to four matches this season.
"The way he is hitting shots. He is not slogging, he is hitting proper shots. For a 15-year-old, he is too mature. So yes, I think we should give him credit for the way he is batting, and he is batting really well. So he deserves all the credit," Bhuvneshwar Kumar said at the post-match press conference on Friday.
Despite Sooryavanshi's onslaught, which included eight fours and seven sixes, Bhuvneshwar maintained that RCB never felt completely outplayed.
"It's a T20 game, I mean. Yes, he is young, and he is batting very well. He is batting maturely, but we never felt that somebody was thrashing us. If a 15-year-old can bat like this, even if he is 25 or 15, I think it's part of the T20 game.
"Yes, we had plans, we dropped a catch too, but that happens in cricket. So we couldn't execute what we wanted to do, and I think it is a part of T20, so we are not worried that much," said Bhuvneshwar.
"We tried what we could do. I know that from the outside, the game looks a little slow compared to how it looks inside. Vaibhav played good shots. So I think we felt that we couldn't do anything different." Forced to bolster their batting in pursuit of a competitive total, RCB brought in all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer in place of the originally intended leg-spinner Suyash Sharma, a move that eventually hampered their bowling flexibility.
"It is difficult to use spinners in powerplay, and we had only one left-arm spinner, as we used an Impact instead of Suyash.
"So we didn't have an off-spinner, and for a left-arm bowler to face a left-arm batter, it makes sense. We did what we could do, and he batted really well." RCB next take on Mumbai Indians in Mumbai on Sunday.
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Rajasthan Royals
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Bhuvneshwar Kumar