Vaibhav Sooryavanshi stands frozen on pitch after missing fastest IPL century

Three runs. That's all that stood between Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and a moment that would have been played on loop for the next 50 years.

He had already broken Chris Gayle's record for the most sixes hit in an IPL season just minutes earlier. Then came the chase for an all-timer: the fastest IPL hundred, a record Gayle had carved out in just 30 balls, 13 years ago. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was right there. 97 off 28 deliveries. But he didn't get there, holing out to deep third man in the eighth over.

IPL Eliminator Updates | Scorecard

Yes, Sooryavanshi smashed 97 off just 29 balls in the Eliminator, one of the most pressure-cooker situations in the IPL, dismantling a bowling attack led by Pat Cummins at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on Wednesday, May 27.

He was 71 off 23 when the over began. The bowler was Praful Hinge, the man who had famously taken the 14-year-old's wicket in his very first IPL over, and hadn't been shy about it. This time, Sooryavanshi was in the mood to settle the score. He smashed three sixes and two boundaries, helped along by some wayward bowling from Hinge.

Racing to 97, Sooryavanshi wasn't prepared to leave the milestone for later. He went for an upper cut off a bouncer, hunting the hundred, but found the one man in the region, Smaran Ravichandran, and that was that.

He couldn't believe it. Nobody had looked capable of stopping him all evening. Even Cummins had appeared a cut below his best. And yet, Sooryavanshi had given it away himself.

The disbelief was written all over him. He stood rooted on the pitch for over ten seconds, trying to make sense of what had just happened — a hundred there for the taking, an all-time IPL record there for the taking.

Abhishek Sharma was first to reach him, jogging over and patting him on the back. Dhruv Jurel, walking in at No. 3, paused for a quiet word before taking guard.

Sooryavanshi looked inconsolable. The disappointment on his face said everything as he took the long walk back. The long walk felt longer than usual.

The Mullanpur crowd rose to their feet. The Rajasthan Royals dugout was up as one. But while the world celebrated the 97, Sooryavanshi was already mourning the three runs he never got.

Had this been a school game, you'd have let him bat on. It was that special, a proper paisa vasool knock, laced with 12 sixes.

It was the second time Sooryavanshi had been dismissed in the nineties in IPL 2026. Last week in Jaipur, he had smashed 93 off 38 balls against Lucknow Super Giants, laying the platform for a sensational chase of 221.

Despite two near-misses in the nineties, Sooryavanshi already has two IPL centuries to his name. He struck his maiden hundred last year, aged 14, and followed it up with another against the SunRisers last month, also in Jaipur.

The teenager is firmly in the Orange Cap race with 680 runs in 15 matches — an average of 45 and a staggering strike rate of 243.

SIXER SHOW IN MULLANPUR

On Wednesday, he began cautiously, seeing off a couple of Cummins yorkers before launching the Australian World Cup-winning captain into the sight screen off a delivery bowled from around the wicket.

When the yorkers failed to trouble him, the SunRisers turned to short-pitched bowling. It made little difference. Off the final delivery of the second over, Sooryavanshi deposited an Ehsan Malinga bouncer into the stands, getting into position before most could even react.

His ability to read length and variations in pace was on full display as he tore into Cummins in the pacer's second over, helping himself to three sixes and a boundary.

The fifty arrived off just 16 balls, with seven sixes already to his name. Rajasthan raced to 80 in the powerplay, and Sooryavanshi had scored 60 of them.

The fielding restrictions made no difference. He picked apart Sakib Husain's slower balls with ease, before taking on Hinge in that eventful over.