Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara has praised his team's young opening batsman. Vaibhav Suryavanshi And he has explained in detail how he does his preparation and training.
The 15-year-old Suryavanshi had a stellar rookie season in IPL 2025, breaking out with a bang, and followed that up with an even more impressive sophomore year in 2026. He has scored 486 runs at an explosive strike rate of 234.78. He has scored two half-centuries and one century after his brilliant century from 2025. Sangakkara explained how he deals with Suryavanshi, and that he does not need to play a fatherly role towards the player, and also praised the young opening batsman.
“He is very inquisitive, but I am very careful not to have too long conversations with him. He just needs to relax and bat. If we interact, it is about things other than cricket. No, no. He doesn't need it at all. He is a much better player than me, so he needs a little help, but not too much,” Sangakkara was quoted as saying by NDTV Sports.
The Royals coach revealed the discussions he had with the young opener regarding batting. Sangakkara said that he has an idea of what the bowlers will bowl to him and trains accordingly. He said that the only message he gives is to be fully committed to whatever plan the young talented individual has in mind.
“When he practices, we talk to him about what the bowlers can do, and he gets an idea of what they can do with him – short balls, swinging yorkers. So we'll practice them a bit, but the most we tell him is just to be committed. Whatever you do and decide to do, you have to be 100% committed to that option.
He said, “The most exciting thing is how he looks at batting. He looks at it the way we all should look at it as a 15-year-old kid. He loves it, he bats for long periods of time and that's the most exciting thing. He really reads the game as well, so it's not just random hitting with him.”
Despite Suryavanshi's stellar season, the Royals are once again struggling to make the playoffs. With two games left, they need two wins to stake a claim to the last four of the season. They will host Lucknow Super Giants in their next game on May 19 in Jaipur.
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