As the Indian Premier League has had its intense and colourful history, some individual encounters outpace the league team in stature and set standards, careers, even the game. Today's fans of the sport are in for an exact replica of that moment: the 14-year-old batting batsman of the year, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, from Rajasthan and the fearsome express pace bowler, Kagiso Rabada of South Africa, one of the greats in the fast-bowling category of the game and to watch this match visit Reddy Anna Book.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: The Unbelievable Phenomenon
But with whom to start Vaibhav Sooryavanshi? Just the numbers make for plausible-disbelief. The teenager, who was born in Rajasthan, now has 404 runs with 237 strike rate, which is a crazy figure that most people on the scorecard card will have to wonder if it's a mistake. It is not. Sooryavanshi is an average of 100 balls hit at a strike rate of +2.09 on average as a batter and off the ball.
However, what's far more impressive than the statistics is the way he hits. No recklessness whatsoever and no slogging for slogging's sake. Sooryavanshi reads the ball early, and plays with technical purity as if coaching batters for a whole life to play like that has been developed. He hits straight, he hits clean and he hits hard. Restrictions on quality pace and spin are not imposed with a sense of urgency, nor is there a fear response, compared to when most batters encounter spinners that bowl at 140+ kph.
His 14 years makes each of his runs all the more impressive. He is facing players who have more experience in professional cricket than he has been a teenager. He encounters international pace bowlers, seasoned spinners along with under pressure scenario that would stress even seasonal cricketers twice his age. But every match came and passed, every time he was at the top of the order, and every time, a firecracker went off firecrackers for Rajasthan that formed the hallmarks of their batting season.
Kagiso Rabada: The World-Class Destroyer
Kagiso Rabada, who has been at the head of world fast bowling for 10 years and is still at his peak as tough as any international bowler, on the other side of this tantalising duel. Setanta's most prolific wicket taker, the Johannesburg-born right arm express has also been leading GT's bowling charts with 16 wickets this season.
Rabada is truly dangerous because of his flexibility and aptitude to plan. Rabada does not bowl merely at a reasonable pace and pray for the best. He reads the books on hitters, knows what they are weak on, and then goes into an incredibly detailed plan to poke at them all season long. His way of delivering the balls, with velocity consistently above 145 kph, has created all manner of chaos for top-notch international swingers this season.
His critics will not have to wait long to add another facet at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in his record. Those who can hit their ball hard are rewarded with bounce at Jaipur and Rabada has plenty of the latter due to his natural high arm. Rabada coming on to bowl his first spell against Sooryavanshi on a hot, dry night when the field will be at its most tough could be the key matchנג of the match.
Runners up Punjab Kings in the recent biggest of the matches showed Rabada at his best, with a pace that was always under control – both in its delivery and expression – and favouring the short ball, rather than his usual repertoire, as a surprise shot, which, surprisingly, he could pull off and with extreme accuracy – none of the bowlers were able to put the ball in easy range for hostile batsmen.
Tactical Battle between Power and Experience
Shubman Gill, the captain of GT, will come to the toss after thinking about how to utilise Rabada against Sooryavanshi. The most blatant is to play Rabada in the fast-bowlers order and feed the young batter short, wide balls at his body, which traditionally seems to make the aggressive young openers of the day uncomfortable.
But for Gill, he will have to play the shorter version of the attack successfully against having Sooryavanshi take out the long ball. Sooryavanshi has already shown on multiple occasions that he can deliver balls that he can pull and hook, which other batters would back out from at 14. With the boundaries being small and tight at Jaipur and Sooryavanshi has his form on the pull shot, it is highly possible that GT can lose an additional 20+ runs with Rabada's first over.
Conclusion
Everything that makes IPL cricket fun and fascinating, will be there as much as tomorrow night's RR vs GT rivalry. Individual brilliance, the battle of the strategies and the at the fence crowd courtesy of the home side, will accompany the iconic air of a sold out Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
It will be the Sooryavanshi vs Rabada duel which will be discussed by the industry for years to come: the highlight of the flamboyant under-17 batsman's career and the first occasion of the "old man" hitting rock hard. Either way, it's going to captivate you, impact you on an emotional level and it's going to be a must-watch.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's balls clearly scored the game-winning runs in this opening burst to set RR's bowling less than 25 balls in and make the match for Reddy Anna Viewers.
