Former England captain Michael Vaughan has praised Vaibhav Sooryavanshi as the ‘benchmark’ for T20 opening, saying the 15-year-old is going to ‘drive’ how the format shapes up in the near future.
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Vaughan was speaking ahead of Rajasthan Royals (RR)’s final league-stage match against the Mumbai Indians. Sooryavanshi got out for 4 (6), meaning he ended the group stage of IPL 2026 with 583 runs at a strike-rate of 232.27, the highest in the league for regular batters, so far. 583 was also the most runs any teenager has scored in a T20 competition.
“I’ve been fortunate to be around the Rajasthan team the last couple of days and I’ve asked all the players how good he is,” Vaughan said on Cricbuzz. “Those who have been on the other end, they say he’s just incredible. One or two just said he’s the best they’ve seen at the other end – in terms of the way that he strikes a ball, the purity of hitting a cricket ball. You talk about world-class players in that team as well, who are saying it. So he’s not a myth.
Vaughan said he expected bowlers to expose some weakness in Sooryavanshi this season after his impressive performances last year, but the youngster has instead continued to dominate. He noted the youngster is not merely attacking secondary bowlers, but is taking apart some of the best in the world.
“He is the modern version of what T20 cricket is. I think teams are now looking for a Sooryavanshi, Finn Allen, you know, to strike it over 200, 220 plus. That’s going to be the future of T20 cricket, and he’s driven it. He’s driven that drive to make sure that the strike rates have been pushed and pushed. Could you get to 300? Who knows, in time, in terms of a strike rate. But he is certainly the benchmark now for opening batters in the world of T20,” he added.
