Chris Gayle Passes on 'Sixer King' Tag to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi After RR Opener's 29-Ball 97 vs SRH in IPL 2026 Eliminator: 'Great Entertainment...'

SRH vs RR, IPL 2026: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was unstoppable on Wednesday night at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur in New Chandigarh. Sooryavanshi smashed a maverick 29-ball 97 and at one point it seemed as if Chris Gayle's long-standing feat of smashing the fastest century in IPL history would be broken. 

Unfortunately from Sooryavanshi's point of view that did not happen as he perished trying to clear the fence. But with his sensational knock, Sooryavanshi did enough to impress Gayle. In fact, Gayle also passed on the label of ‘sixer king’ to Sooryavanshi. 

ALSO READ: 'Tendulkar to Gayle, Everyone is...': Ashwin Hails Sooryavanshi

‘New Six machine’

“What a phenomenal player Vaibhav is. Great entertainment young man! New Six machine," Gayle wrote on X.

Claiming that he did not have personal milestones in his mind during his innings, Sooryavanshi said his primary focus was to hit a six.

"I got to know after the game," he said at the post-match presentation when asked about missing the record of fastest IPL hundred.

He added: "My focus was on hitting a six. I will score centuries in future but the focus was on getting maximum runs for the team. I just work on my plan and if there are any shortcomings, I just try to work on that."

During his short-impactful stay in the middle, Sooryavanshi hit 12 sixes and five fours. It seemed that fielders and their positioning did not matter at all as he dealt in sixes. His wild knock helped Rajasthan post a mammoth 243-8 which proved to be enough against Hyderabad. The Royals knocked Hyderabad out as they won the Eliminator by 47 runs. 

The Royals will now take on the Gujarat Titans for a place in the final.