Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, a 15-year-old star for the Rajasthan Royals, was devastated when his club did not make it to the IPL 2026 final. Despite Sooryavanshi's outstanding performance, which saw him hit 96 off just 47 deliveries, GT won the game by 7 wickets. With eight balls remaining, GT secured its place in the IPL 2026 final thanks to a magnificent century from Shubman Gill and a 32-ball 58 from Sai Sudharsan. The summit match between GT and Royal Challengers Bengaluru will now take place on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Sooryavanshi was very angry after the defeat, and he even sobbed in the dugout.The child was seen sitting in the dugout and covering his face with a towel in videos that went viral on social media. When he entered the pitch and shook hands with the Gujarat Titans players, he too had a very unhappy expression.
With a surface that "improved for batting" in the second innings with the usage of the heavy roller, Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag felt his team scored a competitive total against Gujarat Titans.
He thought a total of about 230 was par, but 240 would have been extremely difficult, noting that the surface provided grip and support to slower deliveries throughout the first innings.Parag acknowledged that RR's inability to take early wickets from their openers made the match challenging for his team.It was defendable; it was a par score. It seemed to improve in the second inning following the hefty roller. The slower bowlers performed well in the first innings as the bowlers gained some traction. 230 would have been a par score, in my opinion. We needed the openers early, but a score of about 240 would have been difficult. It didn't happen, which made things difficult for us," Parag remarked following the game.

Despite the team's relative inexperience, Parag gave the Rajasthan Royals' season a number of positive aspects. He acknowledged that many people did not think RR would qualify, but he commended the young players for standing up and putting on impressive performances, saying the team can only go better from here.In a nutshell, there were a lot of advantages. Given that many of the players were young and inexperienced, we weren't expected to qualify, but many young players did well and can only get better from here," he continued.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's calm and cerebral batting was praised by Parag, who said the young player does much more than just hit hard.
"Sooryavanshi has a bright future ahead of him and can play a key role in helping Rajasthan Royals win a second IPL title," Parag said, highlighting how he carefully considers his innings and shot selection.There is a method to slog and score a lot of runs, but I can't put it into words. However, as you could see from his innings today, he plays his shots and does not slug. I'm not sure how, but hopefully he'll succeed in his career, perform well for the Rajasthan Royals, and help us win a second championship," he said.