Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Beats Suresh Raina's Record, Hits 3rd Fastest Fifty In IPL History

Rajasthan Royals (RR) opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi started his IPL 2026 season with a sensational 15-ball half-century against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Barsapara Stadium on Monday (March 30).

This was the joint-third-fastest half-century in IPL history, at par with Yusuf Pathan (Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata 24 May 2014), Sunil Narine (KKR v Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 07 May 2017),
Nicholas Pooran (Lucknow Super Giants v RCB, Bengaluru 10 April 2023) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (twice, Delhi Capitals v SRH, Delhi 20 April 2024 and DC v Mumbai Indians, Delhi 27 April 2024).

Only four batters, Yashasvi Jaiswal (13 RR v Kolkata Knight Riders, 11 May 2023), KL Rahul, Pat Cummins, and Romario Shepherd (14 balls each) have

reached the milestone at a quicker pace than the 15-year-old sensation. Four batters have reached fifties in 16 balls, and so, Sooryavanshi is now past Suresh Raina, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, and Travis Head in the list.

For RR, this was the second-quickest half-century, behind only Jaiswal’s, with the youngster going past his personal best of 17 balls against the Gujarat Titans in Jaipur from last year — where he went on to hit the second-fastest IPL century off just 35 balls. This time, though, the innings ended for 52 (17) as he holed out a drive against Anshul Kamboj to the covers.

But Sooryavanshi had not only done his job, but also showed his full range to CSK. Last year, the teams met in Delhi at the end of the campaign and on a difficult track, Sooryavanshi had played a composed, and a knock that looked almost too mature for his age, scoring 57 off 33.

On Monday, he was back to trying and hitting the ball out of the park. Chasing 128, the left-hander was dropped for a duck by Kartik Sharma, but he gave no other chances, smashing four fours and five sixes, to completely push CSK out of the match.

RR would be delighted to see him start his first full tournament so well.