Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Leaves Behind MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli In Popularity Race

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in action for RR [Source: AFP]

On Wednesday evening in Mullanpur, the IPL fraternity saw one of the best knocks played in the league’s history. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi piled up 97 runs in just 29 balls against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 Eliminator.

This was not the first time that the 15-year-old wonder kid from Bihar was in the thick of things this season. He is already approaching the 700-run mark as his team heads to Qualifier 2 to face the Gujarat Titans for a place in the final.

As a testament to his growing popularity, a vast majority of the match-going fans are seen wearing #03 Sooryavanshi jerseys as he becomes a rare player apart from the likes of the legendary MS Dhoni #7, Virat Kohli #18 and Rohit Sharma #45, who is receiving this amount of love.

Sooryavnashi’s jersey sales see an unprecedented spike

Currently sitting on 680 runs, Sooryavanshi is the Orange Cap holder at an incredible strike rate of 242.85. He is also the batter with the most sixes in this IPL season (65), with potentially two more matches to go.

For many, India has never seen someone dominating world-class bowlers like this at such a young age since Sachin Tendulkar. When he was picked in the IPL, Sooryavanshi was just 13 and has since won the U19 World Cup and played a central part in RR’s playoffs run this season.

He has already been picked in the India A squad and could soon also receive the coveted India cap. Fittingly, the increase in his popularity has urged a lot of fans to buy RR jerseys, and a close source in the team setup has revealed that they have never seen such demand for any player’s jersey before.

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“His jersey is in huge demand; everyone has been asking for his jersey only. And it’s the most-sold jersey too, we have never seen such demand,” The Indian Express quoted an RR source.

As revealed by his U19 teammates, Sooryavanshi is also a huge admirer of the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma like most players of his age and being in their company in terms of jersey sales is a significant achievement for the youngster.

Sooryavanshi’s 97 take RR to Qualifier 2

Going toe-to-toe with the best talents in the country, Sooryavanshi played one of the best playoffs in Mullanpur, finishing 97(29) with 5 fours and 12 sixes.

While almost scored the fastest IPL century on the night, some of the regular India openers, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan were far behind him, scoring 29, 0 and 17, respectively.

After the change in leadership, with Sanju Samson leaving, RR have managed Sooryavanshi brilliantly as he continues to shine at the big stage. Courtesy of his 97-run knock, RR scored a mammoth 243/8 on the night and eventually won by 47 runs to reach the Qualifier 2.

Sooryavanshi eyes historic Orange Cap

With the final two matches remaining in IPL 2026, the southpaw is at 680 runs in 15 innings. He is 28 runs ahead of the next best, Sai Sudharsan and has Shubman Gill at 618.

If things go well for the RR prodigy in Qualifier 2 against GT, he could go on to become the youngest player to win the Orange Cap in IPL.

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