India, May 18 -- Rajasthan Royals found a Rs.2-crore batting return from a 15-year-old and still left the night with defeat. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's 46 off 21 balls gave RR the kind of powerplay surge that usually turns a T20 innings into a position of control, but the value he created with the bat was allowed to drift.

His night also carried a visible scar. A misfield in the 14th over of Delhi Capitals' chase gave away three extra runs, cut into his ledger and softened the equation for the chasing side. It did not diminish his batting value, but it made his match a sharper study of how one player can generate profit and still end up on the wrong side because the team around him fails to close the deal.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's innings was...