Chris Gayle held the record for most sixes in a single IPL season for 14 years. On May 27, 2026, a 15-year-old from Rajasthan ended that run in the seventh over of an eliminator match. Gayle’s response? He gave Vaibhav Sooryavanshi a nickname.
The West Indies legend took to social media after Sooryavanshi’s 97 off 29 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad, calling the teenager his heir and crowning him with the title “Universe Boss Jr” — a nod to Gayle’s own famous self-given nickname. For a player as protective of his legacy as Gayle, the gesture said everything about what the cricket world just witnessed.
Sooryavanshi Broke a Record That Was Never Supposed to Fall This Soon
Gayle hit 59 sixes in the 2012 IPL season. That number stood untouched for over a decade. Sooryavanshi passed it during the eliminator against SRH and now sits at 65 sixes for the 2026 season, with at least one more game still to play.
The innings itself was something else entirely. Eight sixes came inside the powerplay — the most ever in the first six overs of any IPL innings. Three of those came off consecutive Pat Cummins deliveries. The Australia captain, one of the best death bowlers in world cricket, finished with figures of 0 for 64 from four overs.
Sooryavanshi reached his fifty off just 16 balls. He was nine runs and one delivery away from breaking Gayle’s record for the fastest IPL century — 30 balls, set back in 2013 — when he was caught at deep third attempting an upper cut in the eighth over.
The crowd gave him a standing ovation. His opponents stopped to congratulate him. He walked back, looking devastated.
The Numbers Behind One of IPL’s Greatest Individual Seasons
The records Sooryavanshi has set in IPL 2026 go well beyond the six-hitting milestone. He is now the highest-scoring uncapped batter in a single IPL season with 680 runs, overtaking Yashasvi Jaiswal‘s 625 from 2023. He also broke David Warner’s record for most powerplay runs in a season, finishing the eliminator with 490 against Warner’s 467 set in 2016.
This was also the third time this season Sooryavanshi has hit 10 or more sixes in a single innings. No batter in IPL history had done it more than twice before. His 12 sixes in this knock matched his own earlier record for most sixes by an Indian batter in a single IPL innings — a record he set earlier in the same season, also against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
India legend Sunil Gavaskar, on commentary, called it an innings to remember and to savour. Former England captain Michael Vaughan went further, stating on X that Sooryavanshi is the best T20 opener in the world and that India must pick him for the senior side.
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What Comes Next for the 15-Year-Old
Rajasthan Royals now face Jos Buttler’s Gujarat Titans in the second qualifier on Friday. If RR win that, they will meet defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Sunday’s final. Rajasthan have not won the IPL since the inaugural season in 2008.
Sooryavanshi has been named in an India A squad for a 50-over tri-series in Sri Lanka next month. Whether the senior selectors act on the widespread calls to include him in India’s white-ball tour to England this summer remains to be seen.
At 15, he is already rewriting history. The only question now is how much further he goes.
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