Guwahati, April 8 (IANS) Former India captain Anil Kumble lauded Rajasthan Royals’ batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s fearless approach against India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in a win over Mumbai Indians (MI) in a rain-curtailed IPL 2026 clash, saying the teenager “makes it look easy against one of the world’s best bowlers.”

RR rode on an explosive 80-run opening stand between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sooryavanshi’ to beat MI by 27 runs in a rain-curtailed match at the ACA Stadium in Guwahati on Tuesday and registered their third straight victory of the IPL 2026 campaign.

Jaiswal began the innings with a bang as he hit Deepak Chahar for four boundaries and a maximum to extract 22 runs off the very first over. Sooryavanshi then welcomed Bumrah to the attack by dispatching the ball over mid-on. Two balls later, the ball disappeared over deep square leg as the hosts posted a daunting 150.

Kumble singled out Sooryavanshi’s audacious strokeplay in the powerplay and his calculated assault on Bumrah, as a defining moment in the match.

“Sooryavanshi makes it look easy against one of the world’s best bowlers. First ball, he hits him for a six and then sets him up. He set the bowler up, not the other way around. We’ve generally seen Bumrah set up batters so many times, but here, Sooryavanshi set Bumrah up to bowl that slower ball on the third delivery, and he was waiting for it to hit him for another six,” Kumble told JioStar.

“It was brilliant batting by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, just the way he strikes the ball and the consistency he has shown in terms of strike-rate. He is striking at close to 300 in every game and scoring more than 30 runs consistently, which is outstanding,” he added.

In response, MI’s innings stuttered to 123/9 in the allotted 11 overs as all five RR bowlers used on the night registered in the wickets column. Assessing MI’s chase, Kumble pointed to a lack of clarity and intensity, both with the ball and during the pursuit of a steep target.

“It felt like the Mumbai Indians lacked a bit of purpose and intent with the ball, and that certainly spilled over into the batting. It was always going to be a big task to score 151 in 11 overs, but the way the Rajasthan Royals bowlers came in, you could see the intent. They wanted to hit the deck hard. They have pace, both the opening fast bowlers, and they also took the pace off effectively.

“It wasn’t full like how Deepak Chahar bowled, it was more about hitting the deck. Sandeep Sharma once again proved what a reliable fast bowler he is, becoming a nemesis for Rohit Sharma yet again. He’s dismissed Rohit a few times now. It would be tough for any batter to keep going in those conditions. I thought MI had a bit of a chance when Rutherford was there, but even that glimmer of hope was taken away quickly,” Kumble opined.

–IANS

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