Star India and Rajasthan Royals batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi couldn’t follow up his brilliant 46 against the Kolkata Knight Riders with another impressive innings against the Lucknow Super Giants, as he was dismissed for just eight runs by Mohsin Khan.
But what was more surprising than Vaibhav‘s rare blip was the fact that Mohsin became the first bowler in the Indian Premier League to bowl a maiden over to the 15-year-old star.
Vaibhav has been the most talked-about Indian cricketer in recent times, with his shot-making skills surprising experts and fans alike, across the world. But on Wednesday against LSG, he didn’t look at his best.
Vaibhav smashed Prince Yadav for two fours in Rajasthan Royals’ second over and then played out three dot balls.
But the youngster was seemingly rattled by the dismissal of fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel on consecutive deliveries in the third over.
Mohsin was introduced in the attack in the fourth over, replacing Prince and the strategy worked wonders for LSG. Vaibhav kept defending and getting beaten by Mohsin’s deliveries and on the final ball of the over, was caught out.
The LSG pacer bowled a length ball outside off and Vaibhav, tempted to go for the big shot after the long rut, smacked it towards the leg side. The youngster wasn’t in full control while hitting and Digvesh Rathi completed a brilliant running catch at cover to send Vaibhav back within the powerplay, as RR were reduced to 32/3 in the fourth over.
Vaibhav is currently the fourth-highest run-scorer in the tournament, with 254 runs in seven matches at an average of 36.28 and a stunning strike rate of 220.26.
Meanwhile, it would now be a test for the remaining RR batters, especially skipper Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer, to pull their team out of the abyss they suddenly found themselves in.
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