4 min readMay 21, 2026 03:39 PM IST
15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s astonishing IPL season has now entered territory once reserved for legends. After another breathtaking assault – 93 off just 38 balls against Lucknow Super Giants – the Rajasthan Royals opener is closing in on one of the most iconic records in T20 cricket: Chris Gayle’s mark for the most sixes in a single IPL season.
Speaking on the latest episode of the podcast For the Love of Cricket, Jos Buttler and Stuart Broad could barely hide their disbelief at what the teenager is producing game after game.
“And talking about sixes, our friend Vaibhav smashed a few sixes again last night — 93 off 38. He’s now hit the most sixes for sure by an Indian player in an IPL. He’s over 50 (53) sixes, I think, in the season. And I think it’s only Gayle who’s just ahead of him with maybe one or two more sixes for the all-time record for most sixes in a season,” Buttler said.
The numbers are beginning to feel detached from reality. Sooryavanshi is striking at close to 240 this season – a rate so absurd that Broad joked it effectively means “236 runs for every hundred balls he faces.”
Even Buttler, one of the cleanest T20 hitters of his generation, admitted some of the underlying statistics around Sooryavanshi’s batting leave him stunned.
“I’ve watched him bat in the powerplay,” Buttler said. “The stats galore, right? Balls per boundary in the powerplay is two. So every other ball in the powerplay, he hits a four or a six, which is just crazy.”
What makes the feat feel even bigger is the company Sooryavanshi is now threatening to keep. Gayle’s six-hitting peak has long been treated as untouchable in IPL history, and Buttler had no hesitation in placing the Jamaican among the format’s all-time greats.
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“Chris Gayle – best T20 player to ever play the game, I think, especially in terms of six-hitting – is the record with 59,” Buttler said.
With Rajasthan still mathematically alive in the playoff race, Buttler believes the teenager, who has hit 53 sixes in IPL 2026, has a genuine shot at going past that mark.
“So I think if Rajasthan get through to the playoffs, then Vaibhav will definitely go past that record,” Buttler said. “Which again, it’s just another one of these mind-boggling things that he’s doing at 15 years of age.”
Perhaps the clearest sign of Sooryavanshi’s rise is how quickly bowlers seem to run out of plans against him. Broad laughed about a WhatsApp group with cricket-loving friends that erupts every time the youngster starts teeing off.
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“Every time he gets going, it’s like, ‘He’s off again – 43 off 17,’” Broad said. “And then it comes back, ‘I thought we’d worked him out – bouncer and Yorker theory.’”
“He’s one step ahead of everyone,” Buttler added.
That may be the most frightening part for opposition teams. This is no longer a teenager enjoying a brief purple patch or playing carefree cameos. Sooryavanshi is beginning to dictate games. At 15, he is already forcing comparisons with some of the most destructive batters the format has ever seen – and judging by the way this IPL has unfolded, it might only be the start.
