When Bhuvneshwar Kumar arrived for the post-match press conference after Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s defeat to Rajasthan Royals, the Indian pacer probably knew that most questions would be about Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The RR opener dismantled RCB’s bowling department with ease, taking on experienced bowlers as he went on to register 78 off 26 balls, smashing eight fours and seven sixes, striking at 300.00.
The 15-year-old announced himself to world cricket last season, and since then, he has gone a notch higher. Bhuvneshwar bowled two overs against Vaibhav in the power play and leaked 26 runs against the teenager. In the first over, Vaibhav hammered him for two fours. Then in the fifth over, Bhuvneshwar was once again dispatched to the stands, leaking 17 runs, including back-to-back sixes and a four. During the over, he also got his fifty off only 15 balls. Bhuvneshwar is not the only senior pacer destroyed by Sooryavanshi this season, even the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Hazlewood have faced similar fate.
During RR’s recent match vs MI, he got 13 off five balls against Bumrah, smashing him for two sixes and a single. Meanwhile against RCB’s Hazlewood, he got 19 runs in a single over. He clobbered the Aussie for three fours and a six.
“It’s a T20 game, I mean. Yes, he is young, and he is batting very well. He is batting maturely, but we never felt that somebody was thrashing us. If a 15-year-old can bat like this, even if he is 25 or 15, I think it’s part of the T20 game. Yes, we had plans, we dropped a catch too, but that happens in cricket. So we couldn’t execute what we wanted to do, and I think it is a part of T20, so we are not worried that much,” said Bhuvneshwar.
‘He deserves all the credit’
Explaining RCB’s bowling plan against him, Bhuvneshwar said, “We tried what we could do. I know that from the outside, the game looks a little slow compared to how it looks inside. But we did what we could, like using a fast bowler and bowling in different ways. Vaibhav played good shots. So I think we felt that we couldn’t do anything different. It is difficult to use spinners in powerplay, and we had only one left-arm spinner, as we used an Impact instead of Suyaash. So we didn’t have an off-spinner, and for a left-arm bowler to face a left-arm batter, it makes sense. We did what we could do, and he batted really well.”
“The way he is hitting shots. He is not slogging, he is hitting proper shots. For a 15-year-old, he is too mature. So yes, I think we should give him credit for the way he is batting, and he is batting really well. So he deserves all the credit,” he further added.
Sooryavanshi was eventually dismissed in the ninth over, losing his wicket to Krunal Pandya. Receiving a short delivery, the youngster ended up flat-batting it to long-on, where Virat Kohli took a good low catch. As he walked back to the dugout, he received a standing ovation from the spectators and his teammates.