IPL 2026 purple cap contender Rabada on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: ‘Not an ounce of fear in his body’

Kagiso Rabada has scaled massive heights in world cricket, even in the Indian Premier League, where, in the ongoing edition, he is the joint-highest wicket-taker (alongside Bhuvneshwar Kumar) with 21 scalps and counting to his name. Although he has bowled to perhaps the best of batters of his time in this cash-rich league, Rabada hasn’t felt intimidated, not even by a rookie. This year, he came face-to-face against a 15-year-old prodigy, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who smashed him for boundaries for fun. Despite speaking highly of the Rajasthan Royals opener, the seamer cautioned against getting carried away in his praise.

“He has got really fast hands, and he is fearless at the moment. There is not an ounce of fear in his body, and that’s how you really are when you are young. It really fascinates me. It is great to see that the game is well and truly alive. What I think is that he is just another batter, and I try to get the better of him,” Rabada said in a chat on Wednesday (May 13).

Sooryavanshi has been making headlines ever since his IPL debut in 2025. Having whacked a 35-ball hundred against Rabada’s Gujarat Titans last season, he created another record during their head-to-head fixture this time. While chasing against GT in Jaipur, Vaibhav became the quickest to 100 T20 sixes off a pull shot to Mohammed Siraj.

Such has been Sooryavanshi’s aura and form that he sits in the Orange Cap race, with 440 runs in 11 contested matches, striking at 236.56. He already has 40 sixes to his name this season alone, and is bound to increase the tally. Chris Gayle, however, leads the tally with 59 sixes in a season (in 2012).

Earlier this season, the attacking left-hander whacked a record 12 sixes against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) during his 37-ball hundred, Sooryavanshi’s second in this league. He created a record for clobbering the most sixes in an IPL game by an Indian.

Meanwhile, Rabada’s GT is leading the IPL 2026 points table, with 16 points from 12 matches, and needs just one more win in the remaining two matches to confirm the playoff spot.