The fastest IPL century? Or six sixes in an over? Or perhaps topping the IPL record individual score, of 175 by Chris Gayle? Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has given enough indications in his short time under the arclights that he can, at his best, pull off all of those and more, but the one he really wants is “that record of 175 runs”.
Speaking to Harsha Bhogle, who gave him those options, at the BCCI’s annual awards ceremony on March 15 in Delhi, Sooryavanshi was certain that he wanted to top Gayle’s effort in IPL 2013 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Pune Warriors India, when he scored 175 not out in 66 balls. It’s still the biggest individual score in all men’s T20s, with Aaron Finch’s 172 against Zimbabwe in a T20I in Harare in 2018 the second-highest.
“Agar hume pehla mila, pehle hi uda denge!”
Samson unveils Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s simple yet very effective strategy behind his fearless gameplay!
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Sooryavanshi himself has a best of 144, scored for India A against UAE in the Asia Cup Rising Stars tournament in late 2025. That’s one of his three centuries in T20s in just 18 innings. He also has the second-fastest century in all IPL cricket: in 35 balls, for Rajasthan Royals (RR) against Gujarat Titans in IPL 2025. It’s the second-fastest because Gayle, while compiling that 175 not out, got to his century off just 30 balls.
Sooryavanshi is yet to turn 15, but has already run up a stellar record in his short career in representative cricket so far, and was one of the players RR retained ahead of IPL 2026.
“The goal for IPL 2026 is to win the trophy for the team because that’s the most important thing,” he said speaking to Jio Hotstar on the sidelines of the awards ceremony. “If the team wins the trophy, it will mean that I would have performed, and the team will benefit from that. So that’s the goal: contribute to my team’s victories and win the trophy.”
