Pat Cummins Admits 15-Year-Old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is His New Favorite Player

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s century briefly took him to the top of the IPL 2026 run-scoring charts, but Abhishek Sharma later surpassed him.

Pat Cummins Admits 15-Year-Old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is His New Favorite Player

Pat Cummins has found his new 'favorite' player in 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. (via X)

In Short
  • Pat Cummins has named 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi as his new favorite player.
  • Sooryavanshi scored 103 runs off 37 balls, becoming the third-fastest centurion in IPL history.
  • Despite Sooryavanshi's performance, Sunrisers Hyderabad chased down the target to win the match.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has gained a large number of fans, and the newest admirer is Sunrisers Hyderabad captain, Pat Cummins. The Australian fast bowler expressed his admiration for the 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals batter, calling him his new ‘favorite’ player.

The young left-hander continued his freakish run of form in IPL 2026 with a breathtaking hundred during RR’s first home of the season in Jaipur, against SRH. RR posted a massive first-innings total of 228/6. Sooryavanshi was their key contributor, as he smashed 103 runs off just 37 balls at a formidable strike-rate of 278.38, with the help of 5 boundaries and 12 maximums, in a much-successful batting effort. 

The U-19 World Cup star started his innings explosively, becoming the first player to smash four sixes in the opening over of an IPL game. He went on to reach his fifty in the sixth over, before going past the three-figure mark in the next 21 balls that he faced. Other key contributors for RR were Dhruv Jurel (51 off 35) and Donovan Ferreira (33 off 16). All of it, however, came in a losing cause, as the visitors chased down the target in 18.3 overs, with five wickets in hand. 

Moreover, SRH’s regular captain, Pat Cummins, returned to action after a lengthy injury absence, and he finished with decent figures of 1/27 in his four-over spell. Despite steering his team to a win, the veteran Australian bowler was on the receiving end of Sooryavanshi’s onslaught, becoming the second prominent bowler, after Jasprit Bumrah, to concede a six off the very first ball he bowled to the Royals batter.

Cummins was left impressed at the young batter’s commanding performance, and he did not hold back in revealing that he, too, is a fan of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and his fearless stroke-playing. The 32-year-old expressed that it is ‘fun’ to watch the left-hander bat, while adding that he causes difficulty for bowlers. Pat Cummins acknowledged the impressive start that the 15-year-old has enjoyed in his career. He told the reporters:

I think he’s my new favourite player. He hits the ball so hard, it’s great to watch. It’s good fun. You have to be right on the money as a bowler. If you are not, it’s going a long way. It’s impressive. He has had a great start to his career, and yeah, I like the way he plays.

Sooryavanshi’s century was ultimately for naught, as SRH successfully chased down the 229-run target. The victory was powered by Ishan Kishan‘s match-winning 74 runs off 31 balls, Abhishek Sharma‘s 57 off 29 balls, and Nitish Kumar Reddy‘s finishing efforts (36 off 18).

Records Vaibhav Sooryavanshi shattered after scoring his second IPL ton in RR-SRH clash

It is not new for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to break records, given the 15-year-old plays with some of the biggest cricketing names around the world in the IPL. The teenager, during RR’s clash against SRH, scored another masterful 103 runs off just 37 balls.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi records
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi etched his name in history books by scoring the third fastest IPL hundred, during RR vs. SRH. (via India Today)

Sooryavanshi once again broke his way past a number of records. Reaching the 100-run mark off just 36 deliveries, he became the third-fastest centurion in IPL history. While Chris Gayle holds the record for the fastest ton (30 balls), Sooryvanshi himself holds the number two spot, with his 35-ball hundred. He also recorded his third 15-ball fifty in IPL 2026, with the previous ones coming against CSK and RCB.

Having started the match with 955 runs, he also became the youngest player, at 15 years and 29 days, to breach the 1,000-run mark in T20s. Furthermore, it was his fourth hundred in the format, making him the fastest to the feat (26 matches). Sooryavanshi also became the sixth player to score multiple hundreds for RR, after Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Ajinkya Rahane and Shane Watson. 

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s 12 sixes against SRH last night, was also the most by an Indian batter in a single IPL innings. He moved past the previous record of 11 sixes, that was achieved by CSK legend Murali Vijay, against RR, during the 2010 IPL season.

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