Rajasthan Royals (RR) young batting sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi showed his respect to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni after the IPL 2025 match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday, May 20.
Rajasthan Royals registered their fourth win of the season with a six-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings. With a target of 188, RR chased it down with 17 balls to spare. Vaibhav Suryavanshi was the star performer for the Royals as he led the run-chase with a brilliant knock of 57 off 33 balls at an impressive strike rate of 172.73 and formed a crucial 98-run stand for the second wicket with Sanju Samson, who scored 41 off 31 balls.
Apart from Vaibhav and Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal (36) and Dhruv Jurel (31*) too contributed significantly to RR’s run-chase. When the Royals needed six runs off 18 balls to win, Jurel hit a winning six to take the team past the finish line. Earlier, Yudhvir Singh (3/47) and Akash Madhwal (3/29) combined picked six wickets to restrict CSK to 187/8 in 20 overs.
Suryavanshi’s respect to DhoniAfter the match, the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings were exchanging customary handshakes. When Vaibhav Suryavanshi got his turn to shake hands with legendary wicketkeeper-batter, the young batter touched the feet of MS Dhoni as a respect and sought his blessings, a heartfelt gesture that quickly went viral on social media.
Interestingly, the match between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings was the clash between youngest and oldest player in the IPL as 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi faced off against 43-year-old MS Dhoni.
Meanwhile, with the fourth win of the season, Rajasthan Royals’ campaign officially came to an end as they were already knocked out of the IPL 2025. The Royals are currently at the ninth spot with four wins and 10 losses while accumulating just 8 points in 14 matches. The inaugural IPL champions were the second team to be out of playoff contention.
Dream season for Vaibhav SuryavanshiVaibhav Suryavanshi had a breakthrough season of his IPL career. The 14-year-old cricketer from Bihar was acquired for a whopping INR 1.1 crore by Rajasthan Royals franchise and managed to justify his price tag after he got an opportunity to play in the latter half of the season when Sanju Samson was ruled out of a few matches due to abdominal injury.
Suryavanshi had a brilliant start to his IPL career by slamming 34 off 20 balls against Lucknow Super Giants in Jaipur. The youngster grabbed national attention when he registered the second fastest century in the history of IPL against Gujarat Titans, achieving the milestone in just 35 balls, just five balls short of Chris Gayle’s record 30-ball hundred. He played phenomenal innings of 101 off 37 balls in an 8-wicket win over Gujarat Titans.
In the match against Punjab Kings, Vaibhav unleashed his firepower by scoring 40 off 15 balls in the Royals’ 220-run chase, but his effort went in vain as the team lost the match by 10 runs.
In his debut IPL season, Vaibhav Suryavanshi has amassed 252 runs, including a century and a fifty, at an average of 36.00 and a strike rate of 206.56 in seven matches.
