The 15-year-old finished a sensational breakout tournament on Friday night with a counter-attacking 47-ball 96 against the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2. Although the Royals fell short of reaching the final, the teenage prodigy’s extraordinary run throughout the two-month tournament has placed him squarely in the frame for national selection.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Sangakkara explicitly backed the ‘boy wonder’ to handle the pressures of international cricket immediately, discarding the usual administrative caution associated with handling such young players.
“You never know if anyone’s ready until they play. And with everything Vaibhav’s shown against some of the best bowlers in the world, I think he’s more than ready to take on any challenge that you throw at him,” Sangakkara said. “And I’m sure that he’ll get that call-up very, very soon.”
Sooryavanshi’s statistical returns in IPL-2026 justify the head coach’s ringing endorsement. The left-handed opening batter smashed 776 runs across 16 matches at an average of 48.50. He disrupted standard T20 opening blueprints by maintaining a staggering tournament strike-rate of 237.30, registering five half-centuries and a century. His prolific run-scoring also saw him become the fastest batsman in IPL history to complete 1,000 runs. He also smashed 72 sixes in the season, breaking Chris Gayle’s 14-year-old record of 59 sixes in a single IPL edition; a feat Gayle achieved when Sooryavanshi was only a year old.
While his aggressive strokeplay defined several wins for the Royals in the season, it was his tactical awareness and composure during the high-stakes playoff stages that most impressed his coach. In Qualifier 2, after the Royals suffered early losses, Sooryavanshi held the innings together to help the team reach a competitive total.
“I thought he batted brilliantly (in Qualifier 2 against Gujarat Titans),” Sangakkara said. “It was a much tougher batting innings with wickets falling around him and he held his nerve and really got us to a defendable total. The guy, for 15-years-old, is very mature, he reads the game really well, he reads situations well and he’s got no fear.”
“He’s batted with a lot of maturity, he has shouldered the responsibility of that opening partnership so well for us this season,” the former Sri Lankan captain added, praising the teenager’s ability to consistently deliver under pressure at the top of the order.
With the national selectors currently monitoring options ahead of India’s upcoming international T20 assignments, the Royals are already planning to look after their young asset during the off-season. Sangakkara noted that the franchise’s support staff, in coordination with their medical team, will design customized training and physical programs at their academy to manage his workload.
“We’ll sit down with our medical team and go through what he might need and then support him. We’ll run our camps; he’ll have enough practice opportunities with us. So, we’ll be keeping a very close eye,” Sangakkara said.
Crucially, the franchise wants to protect the young opener from tactical clutter and the external noise of sudden stardom, allowing him to maintain his natural, uninhibited style.
“We don’t clutter his mind too much,” Sangakkara said. “He comes to all our team meetings, he contributes, he listens, and he does a lot of homework. He practises well and he reads bowlers well, he watches their videos and prepares himself really well.”
The former Sri Lanka captain stressed that the Royals have been careful not to burden the teenage sensation with excessive advice, preferring instead to let him trust his instincts and play with freedom.
“We don’t want to put any unnecessary thoughts into his head. I think a clear mind, batting with that courage is exactly what we want to see of him. Overloading people with information is never good. So, we keep things pretty simple when we can,” the coach said.