Teenage star Sooryavanshi smashes 93 against Lucknow to keep Rajasthan in line for IPL playoffs

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JAIPUR, India (AP) — Rajasthan Royals teenage star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s hit an entertaining knock of 93 runs with 10 sixes against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday to keep his team in contention for the final Indian Premier League playoff spot.

The 15-year-old Sooryavanshi also smashed seven fours in his boundary-loaded 38-ball innings as Rajasthan cruised to 225-3 in 19.1 overs for seven-wicket win.

Mitchell Marsh (96) had earlier missed out on a hundred but the Australian opener’s century first-wicket stand with his countryman Josh Inglis (60) had carried Lucknow to 220-5 after Rajasthan’s stand-in captain Yashasvi Jaiswal won the toss and elected to field.

Rajasthan overtook Punjab Kings at No. 4 on the points table behind three teams that have already qualified for the playoffs: Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Rajasthan could seal the final playoff spot if they beat Mumbai Indians in their last league game.

Unlike his aggressive style of batting from the onset, Sooryavanshi took his time before charging against the pace. He scored only five runs off the first 10 balls he faced, but the youngster showed extravagant power-hitting to score 88 off the next 28 balls.

Fast bowler Akash Singh (1-54) conceded four boundaries against Jaiswal in his 23-run first over before dismissing him in his second over.

Sooryavanshi raised the tally of his sixes to 53 this season and needs seven more big hits to break Chris Gayle’s 14-year-old IPL record of 59 sixes. Sooryavanshi could have been run-out in the 90s when Mohsin Khan couldn't hit the stumps at the non-striker's end from close range before the fast bowler had the youngster caught at long-on in the 14th over.

Dhruv Jurel made sure Rajasthan scored at a rapid pace and remained unbeaten on 53 off 38 balls, achieving the target with five balls to spare.

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