'He is not slogging' - RCB pacer gives massive statement on 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

Published - 12 Apr 2026, 15:45 IST | Updated - 12 Apr 2026, 16:08 IST

Veteran Royal Challengers Bengaluru pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who got a fair share of hitting against the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in Guwahati, has said that the youngster is very mature in his batting approach. In IPL 2026, Sooryavanshi is the current holder of the Orange Cap with 200 runs, 78 of which came against RCB on Friday.

Bhuvneshwar believes that the Samastipur-born deserves heaps of credit for the way he has been showing his enormous abilities to hit the white ball hard and long.

"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," the experienced pacer said at the post-match press conference as quoted by NDTV.

Bhuvneshwar also believes that Sooryavanshi, despite being just fifteen, bats with a lot of maturity, which is leading to the bowlers getting smashed for runs all around the park.

"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. We tried what we could do. I know that from the outside, the game looks a little slow compared to how it looks inside. Vaibhav played good shots. So I think we felt that we couldn't do anything different," he added.

Sooryavanshi is leading the run-scoring charts in IPL 2026, and it will be interesting to see if he can manage to keep the Orange Cap with himself after RR's next game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, which will be played on Monday, April 13.