After IPL 2026 high with Rajasthan Royals, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi shifts focus to ‘ultimate’ path taught by father

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was the talk of Indian Premier League (IPL), that concluded on Sunday. Having been acquired for ₹1.1 crore during the IPL 2025 auction, Sooryavanshi gave a new breath of fresh air to Rajasthan Royals at the top after Sanju Samson was traded to Chennai Super Kings.

If 252 runs in seven innings including a hundred in IPL 2025 was a trailer, Sooryavanshi blockbuster hit the stadiums in 2026 as the 15-year-old from Bihar's Samastipur became the youngest-ever to win the Orange Cap - given for most runs in a season - leaving behind the likes of Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Heinrich Klaasen, Sai Sudharsan and many more.

The Rajasthan Royals opener finished with 776 runs at an exceptional strike rate of 237.30, including a hundred. He narrowly missed matching Virat Kohli's tally of four centuries in a season, having been dismissed in the nineties thrice - 93 against Lucknow Super Giants, 97 in the Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and 96 in Qualifier 2 versus Gujarat Titans.

With the two-month glitz and glamour of IPL now over, Sooryavanshi has set his sights on the road ahead, especially in the longer formats - 50-over and red-ball cricket. The southpaw admitted that people will see him play red-ball cricket soon and his T20 heroics are an outcome of the coach's free hand to go all guns blazing from the very first ball.

“Yes, I will have to play on the ground because the next assignment is in a one-day format,” he said. “I have practised a lot with a red ball, but no one has seen me do that, but they will soon," Sooryavanshi told Star Sports during a chat with former India greats Sunil Gavaskar and Harbhajan Singh.

“People think I love to hit every ball, but this is the T20 format, and coaches give me a free hand to go all guns blazing. And I hit the ball only because I know I can hit them, and it isn’t out of compulsion," he added.

'I want to play Test cricket'

IPL isn't the only tournament where Sooryavanshi has outnumbered his opposition. Earlier in 2026, England were blown away by a Sooryavanshi storm in the final of the U19 World Cup as the teenage sensation raced away to a 80-ball 175 to power India to a 400-plus total.

However, his List A and first-class exposure has been limited, something Sooryavanshi wants to change. Between January 2024 to November 2025, Sooryavanshi played just eight first class matches, scoring 207 runs at an average of 17.25. Despite being already a star in the shortest format, Sooryavanshi desires to sustain in Tests - a path taught by his father.

“I want to play Test cricket, obviously, because my father also taught me that it is the ultimate format, and I have played it as well. I’m yet to play many games, though. I played Ranji Trophy cricket but did not get too many opportunities, and it was challenging for me. But I am going to keep working on that aspect of my game,” concluded Sooryaanshi.

Sooryavanshi even has a century in a youth Test against Australia, played in Brisbane. He scored a 58-ball century on his under-19 Test debut, in Chennai in 2024 before being run out for 104. He slammed another against the same opposition in Brisbane a year later, but this time taking 20 balls more.