In cricket, one day you are a hero, and the other day a zero. Rajasthan Royals (RR) batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi learned it the hard way. Not too long ago, the southpaw was the toast of the nation after he slammed a 35-ball hundred against Gujarat Titans (GT) on April 28. However, in the next game against Mumbai Indians (MI) on May 01, the 14-year-old was out for a first-ball duck.
While Suryavanshi got huge praises from everyone for his blazing hundred, cricketer-turned-expert Sunil Gavaskar advised not to lavish so much praise on the RR batter and let him learn and play his natural game.
Even before the ongoing 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) began, Vaibhav Suryavanshi was in the spotlight as RR shelled 1.1 crore to buy the southpaw in the IPL 2025 mega auction held in November 2024.
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"Not at all, not at all. I mean, look - when he entered the auction, he had already scored a hundred against Australia in a youth Test, and that was against a pretty good attack. For a 13-year-old to score a hundred against an international team, albeit not their top side, still shows the lad had talent. And he has just gone on and on from there," Gavaskar told JioStar during the RR vs Mumbai Indians match on Thursday.
"I think he's going to develop his game even more. Sitting with Rahul Dravid, he will learn how to temper his innings - he is only going to get better and better. I do believe that he is someone we shouldn't praise to the skies.
"And in this case, we just get the feeling, even in his very first game, with the first ball he faced, he hit it for six. Now, that should not become something he feels he must live up to every time. Experienced bowlers will think, 'Ah, he wants to hit the first ball for six?' They will bowl it short, and then he might get out. Then, he could start to worry and overthink things.
Rajasthan Royals out of IPL 2025 after suffering 100-run loss to Mumbai Indians
For the unversed, it was a must-win contest for RR when they took on an in-form MI team. RR also had momentum heading into this clash as they defeated GT by a thumping eight-wicket margin. However, against a resurgent-looking MI side, they were completely outplayed with bat and ball. MI posted a daunting 217 on a batting-friendly Jaipur surface. In response, RR batters were bundled out for just 117 runs with four overs to spare.
With this heavy defeat, RR is officially out of the IPL 2025 playoffs race. They have now joined CSK, who became the first team to be eliminated this season by losing to PBKS on April 29.
