India, May 27 -- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been the defining force of IPL 2026. At just 15, the Rajasthan Royals opener has ripped apart bowling attacks across the tournament, smashing 568 runs at a staggering strike rate of 232 while emerging as a serious Orange Cap contender. That tally includes a brutal 36-ball century in Jaipur last month - the third-fastest hundred in IPL history - against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the same side Rajasthan will face again in Wednesday's Eliminator in New Chandigarh. And that innings still lingers heavily in Pat Cummins' mind.

Until the Jaipur game, the Sunrisers were the only team to have somewhat contained the teenage phenomenon. In the reverse fixture in Hyderabad earlier in the season, Praful Hinge had ...