Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has turned IPL 2026 into a personal highlight reel. The 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals opener has struck 37 sixes in nine matches and needs just six more to overtake Abhishek Sharma's record of 42 sixes by an Indian batter in a single IPL season. When you consider that Sharma set that record across 16 innings in 2024, what Sooryavanshi is doing in roughly half as many games is almost impossible to comprehend.

His 404 runs have come at a strike rate of 238.09, the best recorded by any batter who has crossed 300 runs in an IPL season across all 460 such instances tracked. He has scored a century and two fifties, with his best of 103 off 37 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad being the fastest hundred of the 2026 edition and the third fastest in IPL history. The sheer combination of volume and speed makes his season unlike anything the tournament has seen from a teenage batter.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan called him the best six-hitter in the world right now, drawing comparisons to Chris Gayle at his peak. Rajasthan Royals Director of Cricket Zubin Bharucha was even more direct, describing him as the best player he has seen since Sachin Tendulkar. High praise from people who have watched cricket at the very highest level for decades.

Breaking the six-hitting record would cap an already extraordinary double for Sooryavanshi. He was named Player of the Tournament at the Under-19 World Cup in early 2026, hitting 175 off 80 balls in the final against England. That form has carried straight into the IPL, and there is a growing sense that an international call-up is not far away. For now, every game he plays is another chapter in a story that has only just begun.