Pat Cummins baffled as teen phenom Vaibham Suryavanshi belts him for 31 runs in another IPL stunner
Another sensational batting performance from 15-year-old phenom Vaibhav Suryavanshi built the platform that launched his Rajasthan Royals into the IPL second qualifying final.
Suryavanshi belted 97 from just 29 balls against Pat Cummins' Sunrisers Hyderabad – including 31 off Cummins himself – as the Royals reached a record 8-243 from their 20 overs.
In reply, the Sunrisers never really looked in the hunt, and were bowled out for 196 in the 20th over.
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After Cummins won the toss and elected to bowl, Suryavanshi set the tone against the Aussie Test skipper when he hit the last ball of the first over for six. In Cummins' second over, Suryavanshi went 4-6-6-6, with a wide in between.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi took 31 runs off Pat Cummins' bowling. AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia
Suryavanshi brought up his 50 off 16 balls, and took control of proceedings. He hit eight sixes as Rajasthan scored 0-80 in the powerplay and reached 100 in 44 balls.
Suryavanshi smacked another four sixes, scoring 47 off the next 12 balls, and was one hit away from the fastest-ever IPL hundred, when he was caught at third man in the eighth over. It was his second-highest score for the season, and included 12 sixes and five fours.
He hit Praful Hinge for three sixes and two fours before holing out in search of Chris Gayle’s 30-ball record. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a tame 29 in comparison, was caught in the 11th over.
Suryavanshi broke Jaiswal’s record of most IPL runs by an uncapped batter (626) — he now has 680 runs in 15 innings, the current season’s highest tally.
Speaking after the match, Cummins was all out of ideas on how to shut down the undisputed star of this year's tournament, who has dismantled some of the best bowlers in world cricket including Jofra Archer and Jasprit Bumrah.
"Yeah, he played pretty well – you don't feel like you have too many options," Cummins said after the match.
"Obviously, it's a really good pitch, but the margins are so small you know. You miss your yorker by a little bit and he doesn't tend to miss them. So yeah fair play."
The Royals' 243 was the second-highest total set in IPL knockouts, only a day after Royal Challengers Bengaluru set 5-254 against the Gujarat Titans in the first qualifier. Belgaluru won that match to go straight through to the final.
Pat Cummins reacts after he was hit for six by teen phenom Vaibhav Suryavanshi in the IPL eliminator. FOX Sports
In reply, Dhruv Jurel also hit 50 off 21, while Hyderabad’s top-order struggled to get going and was bowled out for 196 in 19.2 overs. Jofra Archer picked up 3-58 in four overs - including Travis Head for 17 off just eight balls - while Nandre Burger took 2-26.
Jurel and skipper Riyan Parag then added 55 off 21 balls as Rajasthan carried forward its momentum. It was a sixth half-century for Jurel this season, before Hinge picked his second wicket.
Rajasthan lost regular wickets once past 200 in the 15th over but managed to garner enough momentum to record its highest-ever IPL total. Its previous best was also against Hyderabad – 5-242 last year.
Hyderabad needed a quickfire reply to have any chance, but it ran into in-form Archer, who had wrecked Mumbai Indians in the previous game.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi has been the undisputed star of this year's IPL. AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia
Archer dismissed Abhishek Sharma for a two-ball duck, bowled Travis Head for 17 and then Ishan Kishan was also caught — Hyderabad was 4-57 in 4.4 overs.
Kishan had provided the quick start, hitting 33 off 11 balls, before he went for one shot too many off Archer.
The game was settled when Heinrich Klaasen was out lbw to Yash Raj Punja for 18.
From 5-81, Hyderabad breached the 190-mark thanks to Nitish Reddy (38) and impact sub Salil Arora (35), as the duo added 56 off 24 balls.
Ravindra Jadeja dismissed both, as Rajasthan beat Hyderabad for the first time in seven matches.
The defeat eliminates Hyderabad, while Rajasthan will now take on Gujarat in Qualifier 2 at the same venue on Saturday morning. The winner will take on Bengaluru in the final at Ahmedabad on Monday morning (both times AEST).
