3 reasons why Vaibhav Sooryavanshi could break Virat Kohli's 973 runs record in IPL 2026
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is part of the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2026.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is part of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League 2026. The left-handed batsman made a spectacular start in RR’s opening game against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), smacking a quickfire half-century.
Sooryavanshi grabbed the spotlight last season, where he became the youngest batter to score a century in IPL. He has held a superb record in domestic cricket and at the junior level, breaking many batting records.
Notably, Indian batting legend Virat Kohli holds the record for most runs in a single edition. In IPL 2016, the former RCB captain slammed 973 runs in 16 games.
15-year-old Sooryavanshi is an emerging batsman in Indian cricket and has the potential to break this record. Below are three reasons why Sooryavanshi could break Kohli’s 973 runs record in IPL 2026.
Reasons Vaibhav Sooryavanshi could break Virat Kohli’s record of most runs in a single season
3. Fearless batting approach
Sooryavanshi bats with a fearless mindset and looks to dominate opposition bowlers from the start. His aggressive batting style helps him to smash bowlers all over the park, especially in the powerplay overs.
He bats without pressure and scores boundaries at regular intervals. This helps him to smash quickfire knocks in T20 cricket.
2. Explosive strike rate
In his debut season in IPL 2025, the left-handed batsman scored 252 runs in seven games at a strike rate of 206.56. In his first game of IPL 2026, he scored 52 runs off just 17 deliveries, registering a strike rate of 305.88. He also holds a strike rate of over 200 in his T20 career so far.
Therefore, Sooryavanshi is known for his high strike rate, which helps him to reach fifties and centuries quickly. If he scores at this strike rate consistently and comes up with big scores, he could surpass Virat Kohli’s 973-run mark in this season.
1. Ability to score big knocks
Vaibhav has featured in 19 T20 games so far, in which he scored three centuries and two half-centuries. In his debut IPL season, he scored one century and one fifty across seven games. Hence, he has proven his ability to score big knocks in the shortest format.
He has already scored one half-century in the opening game of IPL 2026. If he comes up with big knocks consistently, he can go past Kohli’s record of 973 runs.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is part of which team in IPL 2026?
Sooryavanshi is part of the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2026.
Who holds the record for most runs in a single IPL season?
Virat Kohli (973 runs in IPL 2016) holds the record for most runs in a single IPL season
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Vikas Singh Derek is a core cricket-lover since childhood and has always followed the sport both in his personal and professional life. He started his school life by watching cricket at home with family. Later, he played cricket on the field at local clubs during college. After his Master's in Journalism from Mumbai, he followed his passion by covering cricket news across various digital media. Since 2015, he has been an aspiring sports journalist and cricket content writer with over 50K+ articles.