Mullanpur (Punjab) [India], May 27 (ANI): Rajasthan Royals (RR) prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi surpassed West Indies legend Chris Gayle for most sixes in a single Indian Premier League (IPL) edition and in a T20 tournament.

Sooryavanshi achieved this milestone during his side's IPL eliminator match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), slamming a stormy 97 in just 29 balls, with five fours and 12 massive sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of 334.48.

Sooryavanshi has smashed 65 sixes so far in the ongoing IPL season, outdoing Gayle's tally of 59 sixes in the 2012 edition.

Sooryavanshi has also levelled with Gayle for most instances of hitting 10-plus sixes in an IPL innings, a total of four times. Three of these occasions have come this season, making him the first batter to hit 10-plus sixes in three IPL innings in a season.

The 15-year-old's take down of cricket legends one by one continues as he also surpassed Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya's tally of seven powerplay sixes during the IPL 2008 clash between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), with eight sixes in the powerplay at Mullanpur.

Sooryavanshi is the batter with the most runs coming in the powerplay during an IPL season, with 490 runs, overtaking Australian legend David Warner, who scored 467 runs for SRH in the 2016 edition.

This is also his fifth fifty-plus score in the power play in IPL, with only Warner (six such scores) ahead of him.

He has also joined Suresh Raina (87 against Punjab Kings in 2014) and Adam Gilchrist (74 against Delhi Daredevils in 2009) for fifty-plus scores made during powerplay in an IPL knockout/playoff match.

This is Sooryavanshi's fifth fifty in less than 20 balls, with only Abhishek Sharma (six) above him.

*Sooryavanshi establishes new IPL playoff records

The 15-year-old's 16-ball half-century tied with Raina's 16-ball fifty (against PBKS in 2014) for the joint-fastest fifty in an IPL knockout/playoff match.

Twelve sixes smashed by him are also the most in an innings by a batter in IPL knockouts/playoffs, outdoing Shubman Gill's 10 sixes against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2023. Sooryavanshi has the most sixes in an IPL inning by an Indian as well.

Ninety-seven runs by Sooryavanshi is the second-highest individual score for RR in an IPL knockouts/Playoffs game, behind 106* runs by Jos Buttler against RCB in the qualifier 2 of IPL 2022.

*A generational IPL season

In this season, Sooryavanshi has smashed 680 runs in 15 innings at an average of 45.33 and a strike rate of 242.85, including a century and four fifties, with a best score of 103. He has smashed 55 fours and 65 sixes in 280 balls faced. His balls per boundary shot ratio is 2.3, and balls per six ratio is 4.3.

This is the most runs an uncapped batter has scored in an IPL season, overtaking his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal's tally of 625 runs in the 2023 season. Also, he is the youngest to complete 600 runs in an IPL season.

Before the left-handed sensation arrived to the scene, no other batter in T20 history had smashed 600+ runs in a T20 tournament while also striking at 200-plus.

Coming to the match, SRH opted to field first after winning the toss.

The winner of this match will play the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Qualifier two for a shot at playing the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL final.

Teams:

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins(c), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel(w), Riyan Parag(c), Donovan Ferreira, Dasun Shanaka, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja. (ANI)