'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. What do we do to get one step ahead? He is intuitive and extremely intelligent. He is incredibly sharp. He would remember every tiny detail of every tiny ball bowled to him. Very specific, very well planned, always ready for what might happen and great with scenarios. It’s a combination of things you don’t get together," Bharucha said, while talking to Wisden.

Bharucha said Rajasthan Royals had started working on Sooryavanshi’s game from the moment they first spotted him. The franchise tracked everything from his bat speed and swing speed to his impact points.

According to Bharucha, Sooryavanshi’s bat swing speed was initially between 90 and 95 kmph. The Royals wanted him to generate more speed and improve his ball-striking ability.

“We worked on it very diligently. We used heavy bats, outfield drills where he was encouraged to hit every ball for six, and multiple-layered sequencing drills. Within three to four months, we saw his bat speed jump from the 92-95 range to nearly 110-115 kmph. That’s massive. In bat speed terms, that’s one hell of a leap. Those were the kind of improvements we focused on. Then came the second layer, which was his ability to access different balls,” Bharucha said.