Kagiso Rabada of Gujarat Titans faces a formidable challenge against 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi in IPL Qualifier 2, as both aim to lead their teams to the final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Picture: DIBYANGSHU SARKAR / AFP, Shammi MEHRA / AFP, ChatGPT
Image: DIBYANGSHU SARKAR / AFP, Shammi MEHRA / AFP, ChatGPT
There seems to be no limit to the potential of 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi, but there might just be something Kagiso Rabada has to say about that in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Qualifier 2 in New Chandigarh on Friday. First ball is at 4pm SA time.
Rabada is the strike bowler for Gujarat Titans (GT) as they come up against Rajasthan Royals (RR) for a place in the final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) of the competition set for Sunday.
In the eliminator between RR and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Wednesday, the teen sensation Sooryavanshi almost single-handedly swung the encounter with an incredible 97 from 29 balls before he departed.
It vaulted Sooryavanshi to the top of the run-scoring charts and the race to win the Purple Cap with his tally of 680 runs in the competition so far.
While Sooryavanshi is the leading batsman in the competition, Rabada is tied at the top for most wickets with 26 strikes so far.
Rabada was already on the losing side in the playoffs, going down to RCB on Tuesday in Qualifier 1.
The Proteas spearhead is tied with RCB’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the top spot, behind only on bowling average.
It means even if GT do lose to RR, Rabada will have one last chance to improve his wicket tally and hope to finish ahead of Kumar.
Coming up against the in-form Sooryavanshi will be a tall task indeed though, but in Rabada there is no better fast bowler in world cricket to take on the precocious youngster.