India, May 17 -- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's IPL 2026 has already crossed the limits of a breakout season. Rajasthan Royals are 12 points from 11 matches, still alive in the playoff race, and their batting pattern has begun to orbit around a 15-year-old opener.

The numbers explain the scale of that dependence. Vaibhav has scored 440 runs off 186 balls at a strike rate of 236.56. He has hit 38 fours and 40 sixes. Across 11 matches, he has not played like a development project. He has played like Rajasthan's primary source of early damage.

Vaibhav's value to Rajasthan begins with the share of work he has taken on. RR have scored 1914 batting runs across these 11 matches. Vaibhav has made 440 of them, which gives him a 22.99% share of the team'...