Honestly, even words feel too small to describe the innings Vaibhav Suryavanshi just played. Many years ago, MS Dhoni once famously tweeted — “God realized Rajni sir is getting old, so he created Sir Ravindra Jadeja.” And recently, I saw someone say — “God realized Chris Gayle is getting old, so he created Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.” And honestly, after what we witnessed last night, it is very hard to disagree.
After 14 years, Chris Gayle’s legendary record of 59 sixes in a single IPL season has finally been shattered — by a 15-year-old boy. Just think about that for a second. 97 off 29 balls. That scoreline genuinely does not feel real. Forget age for a second — how does anyone, whether they are 15 or 35, play an innings like that in a knockout game? It was pure carnage. He completely dismantled Pat Cummins and the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling attack all across Punjab. And the scary part? A few days ago on The Switch — Kevin Pietersen’s YouTube show — Vaibhav openly said that he wants to become the first player to break Chris Gayle’s six-hitting record, and also the first cricketer to score a double century in T20 cricket. Honestly, with the way this kid is batting right now, both of those goals suddenly feel terrifyingly possible — and maybe much sooner than anyone expected.
Coming to Rajasthan Royals as a whole, they completely outplayed SRH in every department. At one stage, it honestly felt like RR were maybe 10–20 runs short because of a slightly disappointing finish with the bat, but in a knockout match, 243 is still an enormous total. And once SRH lost Abhishek Sharma early, Ishan Kishan after his explosive 33 off 11, and Heinrich Klaasen cheaply for 18, it genuinely felt like they were never fully getting back into the contest.
RR’s bowling unit was excellent too, restricting Hyderabad to below 200 — and honestly, keeping SRH under 200 on a batting-friendly surface is an achievement in itself. Not that margin of victory matters in a knockout game, but the confidence and momentum Rajasthan will take from this performance could become massive heading into Qualifier 2 against a hungry Gujarat Titans side.
Expected Playing 11:
GT:
- Shubman Gill (C)
- Sai Sudharshan
- Jos Buttler
- Washington Sundar
- Rahul Tewatia
- Nishant Sidhu
- Jason Holder
- Rashid Khan
- Manav Suthar
- Mohammed Siraj
- Kagiso Rabada
Impact Player- Prasidh Krishna
RR
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
- Dhruv Jurel (WK)
- Riyan Parag (C)
- Donovan Ferreira
- Dasun Shanaka
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Jofra Archer
- Nandre Burger
- Yash Raj Punja
- Sushant Mishra
Impact Player- Brijesh Sharma
Head to Head:
| Matches- | 10 |
| GT Won- | 7 |
| RR Won- | 3 |
| No Result- | 0 |
Pitch and Weather Conditions:
We witnessed absolute carnage from Rajasthan Royals’ batting lineup in the Eliminator, while Sunrisers Hyderabad, despite a few explosive moments, could only manage a fairly decent chase in response. And heading into tonight’s Qualifier 2, while the pitch is still expected to favour the batters overall, it likely will slow down a little compared to the previous game, mainly because there is only a one-day gap between the Eliminator and this clash.
That being said, a high-scoring game is still very much expected. Dew is also likely to play a huge role tonight, especially with multiple weather possibilities being forecast — from thunderstorms and light rain to even hailstorms earlier in the evening. Thankfully, most of that weather activity is expected to clear before the match begins, so hopefully, we get a full uninterrupted game of cricket.
Predicting what the captain winning the toss will choose is honestly quite difficult tonight. On one hand, the slowing nature of the pitch could make batting first a very smart option. But on the other hand, if heavy dew arrives later in the evening, chasing suddenly becomes significantly easier in T20 cricket. And as we’ve seen so many times in this format, dew often overrides almost every other factor. So despite the pitch slowing down slightly, it still feels more likely that the captain winning the toss may choose to bowl first and chase under lights.
Change of pace will work like magic on this pitch, given that it is slightly slower than usual because of the wear and tear over the last few days here. That is definitely something the bowlers will have to figure out quickly tonight.
Prediction:
Who do we pick? On one side, it’s a hungry Gujarat Titans side looking for redemption after a humiliating loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Qualifier 1. And on the other, a resurgent Rajasthan Royals side that, after a rough patch in the middle of the season, has now won three matches on the trot and honestly looks better than ever. The biggest factor tonight will simply be this — which team exposes the other’s weakness quicker and more effectively.
We already saw GT’s biggest issue get brutally exposed against RCB — their middle order. Once the top three were dismissed, the innings completely collapsed under pressure, and at this stage of the tournament, that is not really something you can suddenly fix overnight. And honestly, if Gujarat lose tonight, it will probably happen because of that exact reason. Their bowling attack is still dangerous, and their top three are capable of chasing almost any target in world cricket, but once those three fall, the batting suddenly does not look nearly as intimidating as you would want it to in a high-pressure knockout game.
Coming to RR’s weaknesses, their death batting is certainly one concern, but against a top order as dangerous as GT’s, their slightly inexperienced bowling lineup could become an even bigger issue. Yes, Jofra Archer and Nandre Burger can create problems early on, but the rest of the attack still lacks major playoff experience. Which means RR’s entire bowling strategy depends heavily on Archer giving them early breakthroughs so they can immediately put pressure on Gujarat’s middle order.
As for RR’s batting, it honestly looks phenomenal right now. Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag are in excellent touch, and if Yashasvi Jaiswal and Donovan Ferreira provide a good start, RR suddenly become an extremely dangerous side. Their only real batting concern right now is the death overs. Against SRH, despite all the destruction earlier in the innings, they still managed only around 30-40 runs in the final five overs — something they will definitely need to improve against a stronger bowling unit like GT’s.
So overall, we are backing RR to take the win and qualify for the IPL Final. Gujarat’s biggest weakness has now been exposed, and Rajasthan know exactly where to attack. Even if it costs them a few extra runs early on, RR will throw everything at GT’s top order because they know the real pressure begins once those wickets fall. And momentum matters massively in knockout cricket. A team coming off a dominant 47-run victory against one of the best batting sides in the tournament naturally enters with far more confidence than a side that has just suffered a crushing 92-run defeat.
Well, it’s a battle of contrasting batting styles that will decide who will play RCB in the final, so- Will it be the classical Gill-Sudhashan Combo that enters the final? Or will it be the destructive Jaisoorya that plays the final? To find out, tune into JioHotstar at 7:30 PM IST .
Until next time!
Thank you.
SlogVlog 