Not Kohli Or Dhoni! Lalit Modi Feels Rajasthan Royals Superstar Is 'Best Buy' In IPL History

Lalit Modi has reserved big praise for 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi by calling him the best buy in IPL history. Vaibhav was signed for Rs 1.10 ...

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Former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi has reserved huge praise for 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Impressed by Vaibhav’s sensational 97-run knock off just 29 balls for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2026 Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad in New Chandigarh on Wednesday (May 27), Modi took to X to describe him as the best buy in IPL history.

“Best buy of any player in history @Vaibhavsooryava by @rajasthanroyals,”

Lalit Modi tweeted.

Best buy of any player in history @Vaibhavsooryava by @rajasthanroyals 🙌🏾🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/h3bCYA73bt

— Lalit Kumar Modi (@LalitKModi) May 28, 2026

Rajasthan Royals signed Vaibhav in the IPL 2025 mega auction for Rs 1.10 crore after a bidding war with Delhi Capitals. At the time, it was believed

that the Jaipur-based franchise had invested in the future by signing the then 13-year-old batter. However, the Bihar youngster got an opportunity to make his IPL debut in his very first season and immediately grabbed attention by hitting Shardul Thakur for a six off the very first ball of his IPL career.

Vaibhav featured in seven matches during his maiden IPL season for Rajasthan Royals and scored 252 runs. He batted at a strike rate of over 200 in IPL 2025 and also broke the record for the fastest IPL century by an Indian batter after reaching the three-figure mark in just 35 balls against Gujarat Titans in Jaipur on April 28, 2025.

If IPL 2025 was merely a trailer of what was to come, IPL 2026 has been the full picture.

In this year’s IPL, Vaibhav is leading the Orange Cap race with 680 runs in 15 matches. He has maintained a staggering strike rate of over 230, while his tally of 65 sixes is the highest by any batter in a single T20 tournament in world cricket.

Apart from being dismissed in the 90s twice this season, Vaibhav has also smashed a 36-ball century against SRH on April 25 and has hit at least 10 sixes in an innings on three occasions. He holds the record for the most sixes in an IPL innings by an Indian batter, having hit 12 sixes twice, and is also the only teenager in T20 history to score more than 600 runs in a single tournament.