Rajasthan Royals lost their first game of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on 13 April.
While chasing 217, the talented 15-year-old was seen in one of the crucial moments of the game Vaibhav Suryavanshi Debutant Prafulla Hinge was out on the very first ball of Royals' batting innings. The young star made a splash in the season by scoring 200 runs at a strike-rate of over 250, but was unable to provide a explosive start in Hyderabad.
Young Vaibhav has been emerging as an impressive player in the last two matches, including the recent match against SRH. In the last game against RCB, he scored 76 runs in 28 balls to set the platform to chase the target of 202 runs.
Royals assistant coach Trevor Penny was asked about the decision to retain Vaibhav as an impact player. Penny said that the 15-year-old player is unhappy at not being able to take the field himself.
“The last game he missed, he was not very happy because he likes his fielding. It's not because he is a bad fielder,” Penny told the broadcaster during the IPL 2026 match between Sunrisers and Royals.
South African batsman Donovan Ferreira was an influential player for the Royals in their first two matches. Penny said they were waiting for Ferreira to pass a fitness test after breaking his collarbone in the SA20 at the start of the year.
“Donovan has passed his fitness test. He broke his collarbone in the SA20. He is a gun fielder. It's good to have him back on the field. Sadly, Vaibhav missed out,” he said.
Talking about the game, after being invited to bat, Sunrisers Hyderabad reached 216/6 in 20 overs thanks to Ishan Kishan's brilliant inning of 91 runs in 44 balls. Royals got nervous in the beginning while chasing the target for the first time Prafulla Hinge And Saqib Hussain rioted.
Hinz took four wickets in the powerplay, including three in the first over of Shakib, taking Royals to 9 for 5. Donovan Ferreira and Ravindra Jadeja tried to steady the ship, but debutant Shakib bounced back and took three more wickets as Royals were bowled out for 159 and lost by 57 runs.
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