Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson missed five matches due to his abdominal injury. From April 17 to May 4, he wasn’t fit to play. And so, Vaibhav Suryavanshi got the opportunity to make his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut and open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal.
In this off time for Samson, Suryavanshi became the youngest ever T20 centurion as he hit the 2nd fastest hundred in IPL history. So when Samson finally got fit to face the Punjab Kings in Jaipur, he decided that he wouldn’t take his opening spot back from Suryavanshi. He decided to employ the don’t fix what isn’t broken approach.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi punished Arshdeep Singh & Marco Jansen
On another day, it would have backfired. One can’t forget that Suryavanshi is just 14. The chances of him failing are much higher than him succeeding. But he continues to defy these odds. Against Punjab, the teenager put on yet another destructive display. Suryavanshi took Marco Jansen and Arshdeep Singh on.
Combined, he scored 32 runs from 2 balls against them. Arshdeep is India’s most successful wicket-taker, and Jansen is a permanent fixture for South Africa across formats. But Suryavanshi had no problem taking them apart. Given Rajasthan were chasing 220, a 15-ball 40 was what they needed, and the youngster delivered just that.
Raised the temperature with 𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙨
14-year old Vaibhav Suryavanshi departs after a breathtaking 40(15)
#RR notch up their highest powerplay score ever- 89/1
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Samson hasn’t been in the best of touch. And one can understand that. Just when he was getting into the groove, he injured himself again. So as RR captain, he decided to take Nitish Rana’s number three slot. And in retrospect, the decision was 100% correct. If Jaiswal and Suryavanshi hadn’t provided that rollicking start, there was no way RR would have a chance at chasing 220.
By the time Suryavanshi departed, the score was already 76 in 4.5 overs. And even though Samson struggled, 20 (16), RR never fell behind the required run rate.
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