GUWAHATI, India (AP) — Another breathtaking innings by 15-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi led unbeaten Rajasthan Royals to comfortably overhaul titleholder Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League on Friday.
Bengaluru recovered from 125-7 in the 14th over to set a decent target of 202.
But Suryavanshi's 78, including another 15-ball half-century, and Dhruv Jurel's unbeaten 81 off 43 balls drove Rajasthan to 202-4 and a six-wicket victory with two overs to spare.
Suryavanshi rocketed the chase with 70 in a stand of 108 off 37 balls with Jurel. They were a season-best 97-1 after the powerplay.
Bengaluru threw test bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar at Suryavanshi and the kid tore them apart. He got off the mark with a boundary by squeezing a yorker back past Kumar, and welcomed Hazlewood's first ball of the season with a six over deep backward point. Hazlewood's second over was tagged by Suryavanshi for 4-4-4-6.
“We just cannot believe how someone can hit it like that,” Jurel said. “We think we can not hit like that. He is a great talent.”
The youngster smashed seven sixes and eight boundaries at a strike rate of 300 in his second fifty of the young season.
“I try to play the ball and not the bowler, and play my game,” Suryavanshi said. “My dad, my coaches ... they keep telling me that the journey is long and to focus on my process and my game, without diverting my mind.”
By the time he was caught at long on, and the crowd rose to applaud his spectacular effort, the chase was as good as over at 129-2 in the ninth over.
Jurel combined with Ravindra Jadeja to finish the inevitable. Jurel's second fifty this season included three sixes and eight boundaries.
Rajasthan topped the table with four wins from four games while Bengaluru was third with a game in hand.
Rain forced the start to be delayed for more than an hour, and Bengaluru was reduced to 61-3 in the powerplay.
As wickets fell to Jofra Archer and Ravi Bishnoi, Virat Kohli kept the strike rate up and captain Rajat Patidar top-scored with 63 off 40 balls. But when Bengaluru slipped to 125-7, Ventakesh Iyer was brought in as an impact substitute and it paid off as 76 runs were plundered off the last six overs.
Iyer’s quickfire 29 off 15 balls helped Bengaluru reach 201-8.
“The way we started in the powerplay, to get to 200 is a positive sign for us,” Patidar said. “The way their batters, especially Vaibhav, batted in the powerplay, it made the difference.”
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
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