'Everyone predicted he would fail': How RR stopped Vaibhav Sooryavanshi from becoming a one-season wonder

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s final appearance in the 2025 IPL season left fans with a moment that stayed in memory. He was seen speaking to Rahul Dravid, who told the youngster: "Next year will be crucial. It will be a real test for you because opposition bowlers would have figured you out.

" By then, Sooryavanshi had already become the youngest player to score a century in the IPL. But a year later, bowlers still have not found an easy way to stop him. In IPL 2026 so far, he has already scored one century, two fifties and more than 400 runs, with the tournament still going on.

Even after Dravid left Rajasthan Royals, the franchise continued to work closely on Sooryavanshi’s game. The youngster skipped his Class 10 board exams to attend the Royals’ training camp. Despite already scoring centuries in England, Australia and South Africa, along with a match-winning 175 in the Under-19 World Cup final, he kept spending extra hours improving different parts of his batting.

Speaking to Wisden, Sooryavanshi’s mentor and former Rajasthan Royals director of cricket Zubin Bharucha explained how the franchise prepared the youngster for a tougher second IPL season. "Everybody predicted that he would not have a good second season in the IPL. And that was a very big motivating factor in terms of how we can get him ready, given now everybody knows his game, and how to counterattack him.