Vaibhav Sooryavanshi stunning 93 keeps RR's playoffs hopes alive

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's scintillating 93 eclipsed Mitchell Marsh's 96 as the Rajasthan Royals kept their knockouts hopes alive in IPL 2026 with a commanding seven-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday (May 19). The teenage sensation, who has shouldered the Royals' batting for much of the season, was at his brutal best, smashing 10 towering sixes in a breathtaking 38-ball assault that powered RR's chase of 221. With Sooryavanshi setting the tone in an emphatic fashion, Dhruv Jurel took over and smashed an unbeaten 53 off 38 as Royals romped home with five balls to spare, staying firmly in the playoffs race that has narrowed down to just one available spot. Yashasvi Jaiswal was the aggressor in the 75-run opening stand with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, kickstarting the chase with a hat-trick of boundaries off Akash Singh in a costly 23-run over. Mohsin Khan and Mayank Yadav briefly applied the brakes with a tight over each, but Jaiswal soon counterattacked, tearing into Mohsin with a sequence of 6, 4, 4, 4 in his second over, which leaked 19 runs in total. Even though Sooryavanshi only started to have fun in the Powerplay's final over, Jaiswal had already set the stage for the chaos in the middle overs. RR's 15-year-old sensation took matters into his own hands in the sixth over against Prince Yadav, announcing himself with a stunning ramp over Rishabh Pant for six. Although he lost his opening partner to Akash Singh soon after the field restrictions were lifted, Sooryavanshi shifted gears. When Akash returned for the ninth over, the youngster unleashed complete mayhem: 6, 4, 0, 4, 6, wd, wd, 4 - a 26-run over that made his intentions clear. He took Prince apart once more, sending the final two balls of his over flying over the ropes on either side of the wicket after racing to a half-century off of 23 balls. He then hit a Digvesh Rathi googly deep into the long-off stands. Alongside Dhruv Jurel, Sooryavanshi kept the assault relentless. Mayank's third over disappeared for 29 runs, with the pair smashing two sixes each to decisively lock the momentum in their favour. Rathi, too, endured another bruising over before Mohsin finally deceived the teenager with a slower ball, denying him what would have been a match-defining century. After scoring a breath-taking 93, Sooryavanshi left at the end of the 14th over, leaving RR and the well-set Jurel needing only 41 deliveries out of the remaining 36. Following up his 90 against CSK, Marsh delivered again, combining with Inglis to lay the perfect platform for a commanding total. Marsh got going with a drive over covers off Jofra Archer before hammering a six over mid-off. Inglis, who caused the majority of the early damage, then broke free from the left-arm pace of Sushant Mishra and hit a 99-meter maximum. Then, in his two Powerplay overs, he attacked Sandeep Sharma with two sixes and three boundaries in six balls. Marsh, on the other hand, attacked Brijesh Sharma, scoring 14 runs in his first over. Of Lucknow Super Giants' 83 in the Powerplay, Inglis had smashed 49 off just 22 balls. He brought up a rapid half-century against Yash Raj Punja, but the bowler struck back in his next over to finally end the 109-run stand in the ninth over. Marsh, the first LSG batter to score more than 500 runs in consecutive IPL seasons, was stuck in the late 40s for a few overs before scoring a second fifty in a row off just 25 deliveries. Mishra leaked three boundaries to the Australian in the 12th over, but Punja struck back for the visitors by dismissing Nicholas Pooran, whose brisk 16-run cameo included a couple of maximums. Rishabh Pant also had trouble getting going in the beginning, failing to locate the fence in his first ten attempts. He eventually broke the shackles by launching Brijesh straight down the ground for six in the 16th over, and at 182/2, LSG looked poised to breach the 250-run mark. However, disciplined death bowling ensured the visitors were restricted to 220. Jofra Archer, who returned for two overs at the back end, conceded just one boundary each to the third-wicket pair before coming back in the 20th over to snuff out the momentum by removing both set batters. Marsh ultimately fell narrowly short of what would have been his second IPL century of the season as well, but the slowdown allowed RR a window to clawback and they never let go. LSG will play their final game of the season against the Punjab Kings on Saturday (May 23), returning home after being eliminated. RR head to Mumbai next, playing the penultimate match of IPL 2026 league stage on Sunday afternoon with their fate in own hands.