With Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the absurd has been the normal.

A sub-40-ball hundred is probably a once-in-a-career occurrence for a good T20 batter. On Saturday, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, Sooryavanshi smashed his second such hundred. At this point, no one should be surprised.

Almost a year after he had reeled in a 35-ball ton against Gujarat Titans at the same venue, Sooryavanshi eviscerated a stunned Sunrisers Hyderabad to score a 36-ball century.

If the context has eluded you, these two are the second and third-fastest hundreds in the history of IPL. Absurd? Not anymore.

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Unfortunately for Sooryavanshi, he ended the day on the losing side, after Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma orchestrated a masterful SRH chase.

Nevertheless, with his blazing hundred, Sooryavanshi earned himself a brand-new admirer – SRH skipper Pat Cummins.

“Yeah, I think he’s my new favourite player. He hits the ball so hard, and it’s great to watch. It’s good fun,” said Cummins in the post-match press conference.

Cummins could afford to be this magnanimous because his side had triumphed on the day of his return from injury.

Even if we were to take away that fact, there is the cold, hard truth of what he had witnessed and experienced.

Earlier in the day, as the Aussie pacer ran into bowl to Sooryavanshi in the second over – their first-ever meeting – the Royals opener was in scorching touch.

He had just torn into Praful Hinge in the first over, belting him for four consecutive sixes, to four parts of the ground – a pull, a whip of the pads and two sumptuous lofted drives past long on and long off.

Before Saturday, no player had ever hit four sixes in the first over of an IPL game. With Sooryavanshi, logic flies out of the window, as do records.

What was also evident was that this first-over decimation was Sooryavanshi’s way of payback, as Hinge had dismissed him for a first-ball duck earlier this season.

And we cut back to Cummins. Over his short but eventful IPL career, Sooryavanshi has almost always made a point to assert himself early on against the opposition’s premier bowler.

Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t spared, nor was Josh Hazlewood. There was no reprieve for Cummins either.

The SRH skipper had parked two fielders in the leg-side outposts and dished out a shortish delivery, sliding it away from Sooryavanshi.

The seemingly obvious trap had no impact on the Royals opener. Without even retreating to his back foot, he flat-batted the ball for a six in front of the leg-side square.

“You’ve got to be right on the money as a bowler, because if you’re not, it’s going a long way. He’s impressive. He’s had a great start to his career. I like the way he plays,” admitted Cummins.

At the end of the second over, Sooryavanshi had faced six deliveries and had dispatched five of them beyond the fence. Even for him, this was an unsustainable momentum to maintain.

Even as he consolidated, the boundaries kept flowing to all parts of the ground. Scarily for opposition bowlers – of the present and the foreseeable future – there were glimpses of an evolving batter.

Sooryavanshi displayed a rare touch of innovation when he employed a reverse hit to score a four against left-arm wrist spinner Shivang Kumar.

Even more outrageous was the way he picked an off-cutter from Sakib Hussain early and dismissively swept it away for a six over square leg.

When you thought Sooryavanshi can’t surprise you anymore, he finds a way to do so. What is normal anymore?

Published on Apr 26, 2026