R Ashwin said Vaibhav Sooryavanshi mania has taken over his household, with his parents becoming the biggest admirers of the Rajasthan Royals opener after his second IPL hundred against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday, April 26. Speaking to journalist Vimal Kumar, Ashwin said that Sooryavanshi’s rise has hit home as this season has continued remarkably.
Sooryavanshi has been one of the breakout performers of the IPL since his debut and is already in contention for the Orange Cap with 357 runs from eight matches. Ashwin said his father started praising almost every shot of the opener in a way he had not seen before.
“Honestly, I’ve never seen my dad admire someone like that before. He keeps looking and saying, “That’s a shot! Oh wow, amazing! What a player!” after every shot. I’m telling you, after every shot he plays, that’s how my dad reacts.”
“I’ll tell you – my parents stay down and I watch every RR match sitting with them. I tell you, they’re his number one fans. The way he celebrated too – my mother used to say, ‘Look at his face, look at his celebration,’ and how she admired the little boy, it was really nice to see,” Sooryavanshi said.
Ashwin said the fondness for Sooryavanshi stemmed from how comfortable he felt with cricket followers in India, as one of the boys seen playing on streets and alleys across the country.
“In every street and lane, kids are playing cricket just like that. Everyone feels that one of those kids from their own street has gone and made it big. It feels like Vaibhav Suryavanshi is our own street cricketer, like he was just playing in our lane and now he’s out there doing this,” Ashwin said.
Ashwin also said his mother was disappointed that Sooryavanshi did not turn his century into an even bigger score after he was dismissed lbw.
“After he scored a century and then got out LBW, my mother said, ‘What was that shot after he made 100? Why did he play with such overconfidence?’ I told her, “Please leave it alone, it’s just a baby.”
“She watched him for so long with pure admiration, but she wanted him to be even bigger. She was telling me, ‘KL Rahul made 150, he should make 150 too.'” I said fine,” Ashwin said.
“SOORYAVANSHI TICKS ALL THE BOXES”
Ashwin later quipped that Sooryavanshi might have followed his YouTube channel after earlier saying that the Rajasthan Royals opener didn’t play the reverse sweep much. He said that in his short career so far, the batsman has still answered all the questions about his game.
“I said last time that Vaibhav Suryavanshi doesn’t play reverse sweep much, so maybe he was trying to show us, ‘Look, I can also play reverse sweep.’ What more do you want?”
“You want him in the rankings? Done. You want him to hit the best bowlers in the world for sixes? Done. Tick off Pat Cummins. Tick off Lungi Ngidi. Tick off Jofra Archer after he smashed him in the nets. Tick off Jasprit Bumrah after he hit him too. One by one he ticks every box.”
“And I said recently that Vaibhav Suryavanshi should get more exposure, maybe first through first-class cricket, and that players like Priyansh Arya should also get opportunities. But he seems to be saying, ‘No, no, I’m ready’.”
“He keeps ticking off every mark and basically telling us, ‘I’m ready, don’t worry.’ Need a back sweep? Done. Need an orange cap? I will take it and show you,” said Ashwin.
Sooryavanshi’s form made him one of the central figures of the tournament and Ashwin’s account of the home reactions underlined the extent of that appeal. Rajasthan Royals will next face Punjab Kings on April 28.
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Published on:
26 Apr 2026 17:13 IST
