Fifteen-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi scored 43 to help Rajasthan Royals beat Punjab Kings by six wickets on Tuesday in a high-scoring IPL 2026 match.
Sooryavanshi made 43 off 16 balls to set up Rajasthan’s chase of 223. The team reached the target with four balls to spare in Chandigarh.
Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 51, while South Africa’s Donovan Ferreira hit an unbeaten 52 to seal the win. The result handed Punjab their first loss of the season.
"I really enjoyed batting with him and he's playing amazing," said Yashasvi Jaiswal. "I'm always happy seeing from the other end, the way he's hitting the ball."
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Sooryavanshi started quickly, hitting Arshdeep Singh for a six and two fours. He then struck Lockie Ferguson for two sixes.
He was dismissed by Arshdeep after mistiming a shot to mid-off. The innings took him to 400 runs in nine matches this season, putting him top of the batting charts.
Abhishek Sharma moved to second place with 380 runs, having played one match fewer.
Sooryavanshi is now the fastest player to 400 runs in a single IPL season, reaching the mark in 167 balls. He beat the previous record set by Andre Russell in 2019 by 21 balls.
He had earlier scored a 36-ball century against Sunrisers Hyderabad, becoming the youngest and fastest player to reach 1,000 T20 runs.
In this innings, he hit multiple attacking shots, including a flick off Ferguson for a six over deep mid-wicket.
Jaiswal continued the scoring in his 27-ball innings after Sooryavanshi’s dismissal. Despite disciplined bowling from Punjab in the middle overs, Rajasthan stayed on track.
An unbeaten stand of 77 between Ferreira and impact substitute Shubham Dubey, who scored 31, guided the team to victory.
"This is the format where I feel that a lot of players have changed their game and when they come in, they go bang from ball one," said Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer.
"So it's an arduous task for bowlers to come with a certain plan. But at the end of the day, I feel it's all about execution. And today it just wasn't our day."
Earlier, Australia’s Marcus Stoinis scored an unbeaten 62 off 22 balls to take Punjab to 222-4 after they were asked to bat first.
Punjab, coached by Ricky Ponting, lost for the first time in eight matches this season.
