IPL 2026: Virender Sehwag pinpoints reason behind Rajasthan Royals' Defeat, Slams Players as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Mentioned

Rajasthan Royals posted 214 runs but fell short against Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2026 Qualifier 2 encounter. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi played a superb knock of 96, but it wasn't enough for them.

Former India opener Virendra Sehwag sharply criticised senior RR batters for failing to rotate strike to explosive 15-year-old sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi during the powerplay.

At just 15, Vaibhav Suryavanshi has become the youngest debutant and centurion in IPL history. The left-hander from Bihar has smashed records this season, including the most sixes in a single edition, often batting at strike rates above 200. His performances have made him a generational talent.

Sehwag, known for his no-nonsense views, questioned the approach of experienced players including Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, and Ravindra Jadeja. jauswal and Jurel got out very early within the powerplay, while Jadeja's strike rate of around 130 was not enough for the team.

"I have a question for them, whether it's Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, or Jadeja... whoever came to bat with him during the powerplay. Because they got fewer balls to play, they were putting in extra effort to score runs. Even when you know that if you just give the strike to Vaibhav Suryavanshi, his natural ability to hit boundaries (fours and sixes) is much better than the other players," Sehwag said.

"At least a partnership would have been built, he would have faced more balls, and more runs would have been scored. So, I think that was a mistake in the first powerplay. Although the powerplay wasn't bad, I'd still say it wasn't bad, but it could have been much better. The result of that would have been that instead of scoring 214 runs, they probably could have gone past 224 or 230+," he added.

Sehwag argued that giving Suryavanshi more strike would have leveraged his exceptional boundary-hitting ability and taken RR to a bigger total. The southpaw ended the season with 776 runs to his name, and also holds the Orange Cap by a comfortable margin.