Rajasthan Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings in their opening match of the IPL 2026 at the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) Stadium in Guwahati.
It was a dominant performance from RR with both bat and ball. One of the stars of the night was the 15-year-old sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The left-handed opening batter smashed a scintillating half-century as the host side won the game by a margin of 8 wickets and 47 balls to spare.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashed 51 from 17 balls in an innings studded with 4 fours and 5 sixes. He smashed his fifty in 15 deliveries, thus smashing the second-fastest half-century for RR in IPL history. He had smashed a 50 in 17 balls against Gujarat Titans in IPL 2025. He thus becomes the first player in history to smash multiple fifties for the franchise in under 18 balls.
Here are the fastest half-centuries for RR in IPL history:
13 – Yashasvi Jaiswal vs KKR, Kolkata, 2023
15 – Vaibhav Sooryavanshi vs CSK, Guwahati, 2026*
17 – Vaibhav Sooryavanshi vs GT, Jaipur, 2025
18 – Jos Buttler vs DD, Delhi, 2018
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Slams Third-Fastest IPL Fifty
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi slammed the joint third-fastest half-century in the history of the IPL. He joins Yusuf Pathan (Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata 24 May 2014), Sunil Narine (KKR v Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 07 May 2017), Nicholas Pooran (Lucknow Super Giants v RCB, Bengaluru 10 April 2023) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (twice, Delhi Capitals v SRH, Delhi 20 April 2024 and DC v Mumbai Indians, Delhi 27 April 2024).
Sooryavasnhi also stitched a 75-run opening stand with Yashasvi Jaiswal, with RR putting up 74 in the powerplay. He had already created waves in the IPL 2025, scoring a century and two fifites. In fact, he became the youngest player in history to smash an IPL ton.