By Prakash Nair 
Guwahati, March 30: Let me tell you something. When a 15-year-old walks out to bat in the IPL, and the first thing he does is mistime a pull shot, you think, okay, nerves happen to everyone. Then the next ball disappears over the midwicket boundary for six. And you realise the mistimed shot was not nerves. That was just a warm-up.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is not a normal cricketer. He is not a normal 15-year-old. On Monday night in Guwahati, he walked in, looked around at some of the best bowlers in Indian domestic cricket, and proceeded to hit a fifty in 15 balls. Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by 8 wickets. The match was done in 12.1 overs. Chennai needed 20. They got roughly 60% of the way there before it was over.
But forget the numbers for a second. Just picture this a teenager who was not even born when MS Dhoni was winning his first IPL title, batting like the whole thing bores him slightly.
How Chennai Got Here: Same Old Story, Different Year
Before we talk about Sooryavanshi dismantling everything in sight, let us talk about how Chennai Super Kings set up a total of 127 runs that even they probably knew was not enough.
Riyan Parag won the toss and chose to bowl. It had been raining in Guwahati for two straight days. The pitch was damp, the ball was swinging, and the overhead conditions were exactly the kind that fast bowlers dream about at night. Parag later called the decision a “no-brainer.” That is probably the most honest thing any captain said all evening.
Nandre Burger opened the bowling for RR. Now, Burger is a South African left-arm pacer, not the most famous name in cricket, but exactly the kind of bowler you do not want to face on a pitch that is doing things. His very first serious impact came when he bowled a full delivery from around the wicket, the ball seamed away just enough, and Sanju Samson’s off stump went flying out of the ground.
Samson had just joined CSK this season, swapping from Rajasthan Royals in what was one of the biggest franchise moves of the year. Big signing. Big expectations. First ball of his CSK career, in terms of impact, his stumps were spread across the Guwahati turf. He walked back to zero.
Jofra Archer then did what Jofra Archer does. He bowled full, straight, and fast, and Ruturaj Gaikwad, CSK’s captain, the man supposed to be steadying the ship, tried to make room and swing it through the off side. The ball did not cooperate. Neither did the stumps. Gaikwad was gone.
By the end of the first six overs, Chennai were 41 for 4. Their entire top order, Samson, Gaikwad, young Ayush Mhatre, Matthew Short, all back in the dugout before most fans had finished their first samosa. It was, bluntly, a horror show. And it was not entirely different from what Chennai served up through most of 2025, when they finished last in the league.
Then came Ravindra Jadeja. Now this is where the match had a proper story within a story. Jadeja had left Rajasthan Royals nearly seventeen years ago, went on to become one of the greatest all-rounders India has produced, spent most of his IPL career winning trophies at Chennai, and has now come back to Jaipur pink. His very first over bowling for RR in almost two decades? Two wickets. The crowd, most of whom were wearing CSK jerseys, by the way, because Guwahati loves Chennai, went completely quiet.
Jamie Overton tried his best late on. The English allrounder came in down the order and played a proper knock 43 runs off 36 balls, refusing to go down without a fight. He and last-man Anshul Kamboj added 33 runs for the final wicket, which is actually the highest ever tenth-wicket partnership for CSK in IPL history. A record, yes. Also a reminder that seven wickets fell for under 100 runs before those two got together.
Chennai were all out for 127. Archer took 2 for 19, Burger 2 for 27, Jadeja 2 for 18. Clean, clinical, comprehensive.
Then a Boy From Bihar Decided to Have Some Fun
Here is the thing about Sooryavanshi. He was dropped on the very first ball he faced. Matt Henry bowled short, Sooryavanshi pulled, got no timing at all, and the ball lobbed towards midwicket, where debutant Kartik Sharma, playing his first IPL game, got both hands to it and put it down. The ball rolled to the boundary. Four runs, stumble, survive.
The next ball, Sooryavanshi hit a six. Over midwicket, clean as you like.
That, right there, is who this kid is. You drop him, he hits you for six. You get him early, fine. You miss, you pay.
What followed was something genuinely special. He started picking up Henry, reading the lengths early, getting his body into position and swinging through with full freedom. When Noor Ahmad CSK’s Afghan left-arm spinner came into the attack, Sooryavanshi hit him for two sixes in a row and brought up fifty in just 15 balls.
Fifteen balls. Not 15 overs. Fifteen deliveries.
His strike rate at the point of the fifty was over 300. To put that in plain language, he was scoring three runs per ball in a format where scoring one run per ball for the whole innings is considered decent batting.
This was the joint fourth-fastest fifty in IPL history. The company he is keeping on that list, Yusuf Pathan, Sunil Narine, Nicholas Pooran, and Jake Fraser-McGurk, are all seasoned professionals. Only four batters in the entire history of this competition have got to fifty faster than this 15-year-old from Samastipur, Bihar.
He was eventually out for 52 off 17 balls, caught at extra cover trying to clear the field one more time. By then, RR were already cruising at 75 for 1 inside the powerplay. The match was finished before Chennai’s bowlers even had time to figure out a plan.
Yashasvi Jaiswal Sooryavanshi’s opening partner and, at 23, practically a senior statesman by comparison, held his end together for an unbeaten 38. Dhruv Jurel came and went for 18. Riyan Parag walked in, hit one boundary, and the chase was over.
128 for 2. 12.1 overs. 47 balls remaining.
Chennai’s bowlers bowled their 12 overs and were not even allowed to finish.
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- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
