After winning the U19 World Cup with India, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi on Sunday said he now aims to win the IPL 2026 title with the Rajasthan Royals while also targeting Chris Gayle’s long-standing record for the highest individual score in the competition.
“The goal this IPL season is to win the trophy for the team,” Sooryavanshi said at the BCCI Naman Awards in New Delhi on Sunday, where his World Cup-winning team was felicitated.
“I want to do well and my performance will help the whole team. This is my goal - to contribute to the Royals’ wins and win the trophy for the franchise.”
The 14-year-old left-handed opener also spoke about how the Royals had been tracking his progress long before he was signed by the franchise in November 2024.
“Rajasthan Royals were keeping an eye on me during my domestic and U19 games. Their scouting team had been following me for a long time. I felt I could go to the Royals because my trial with them had gone very well,” he said.
“I am happy to be with the Rajasthan Royals. I have improved a lot in my life while playing for them,” Sooryavanshi added.
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At the awards function, Vaibhav was presented with a choice of three individual records he would like to break: hitting six sixes in an over, scoring the fastest IPL century, or Chris Gayle's 175-run record - the highest score in T20 cricket.
“Breaking that 175 record,” Vaibhav Sooryavanshi replied.
Gayle’s unbeaten 175 came off just 66 balls and included 17 sixes. The West Indies great achieved the feat for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against the now-defunct Pune Warriors in IPL 2013.
In the same innings, Gayle also smashed the fastest T20 century, reaching his hundred in just 30 deliveries.
Sooryavanshi, meanwhile, already holds the record for the fastest century by an Indian in the IPL, racing to the milestone in 35 balls during the Rajasthan Royals’ match against the Gujarat Titans last year.
Sooryavanshi is also the youngest player to score a century in both the IPL and T20 cricket.
Last month, the prodigious opener led India to U19 World Cup title, finishing the tournament as the team’s leading run-scorer with 439 runs.
Sooryavanshi was the standout performer in the final against England, hammering 175 off 80 balls to power India to victory.
