Vaibhav Sooryavanshi became the joint-second fastest player to reach 1,000 runs in the Indian Premier League on Friday but was unable to lift Rajasthan Royals to victory, as Shubman Gill posted a score of 104 to book Gujarat Titans a spot in Sunday's final.
The Titans will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Sunday's final, after Gill's side chased down Rajasthan's score of 214 to seal a seven-wicket victory.
While the Royals' top order failed to score runs, Sooryavanshi, 15, stepped up to strike a sensational 96 off 47 deliveries.
He began the match with 932 runs from 22 IPL appearances before blasting his way to a half-century off 31 deliveries. It came after he equalled the fastest 50 ever struck in the IPL play-offs during Wednesday's victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad, passing the milestone off 16 balls.
It was also his fifth 50 of the season, and the sixth in his IPL career, with Sooryavanshi showing no mercy to the Gujarat Titans bowlers, thumping six fours and two sixes.
He put his foot on the gas pedal after bringing up his 50, hitting another four fours and a booming six before flailing at a shorter delivery from Kagiso Rabada, sending the ball up into the air to deep third, where he was caught by Gill.
Despite agonisingly missing out on what would have been his second century of the 2026 IPL this season, Sooryavanshi equalled Lendl Simmons as the second fastest players to reach 1,000 IPL runs, doing so off 23 innings.
Only Shaun Marsh achieved the feat quicker, reaching the milestone in 21 innings.
"That was, I can't put it into words," Royals captain Riyan Parag said. "There's one way where you go and you slog and you get a lot of runs. But the way he's batted, it's not just slogging, it's not blind slogging, you can't do what he just did today if you're just going from ball one.
"He calculates and assesses conditions and does everything well. I still can't figure out how? But hopefully he keeps doing that.
"Hopefully, he represents our country and keeps representing the Royals and brings us our second championship."
Sooryavanshi was also seven runs away from breaking his high score in the IPL this season, a 103, which he struck against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 25.
Rajasthan Royals had looked in trouble mid-way through their innings, losing four wickets for 109 runs, through 12 overs. Rabada and Jason Holder were the Titans' best bowlers, taking a pair of wickets each, while Mohammed Siraj dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal for one run off just two deliveries.
Dhruv Jurel was sent walking next by Rabada, for seven runs off six deliveries, before Ravindra Jadeja steadied the ship. He struck 45 runs off 35 deliveries before he was forced to retire with an injury.
While a blow for the Royals, Sooryavanshi stood up, keeping the run rate ticking over, moving the Royals to within 28 runs of the 200-run mark before he was dismissed by Rabada.
Donovan Ferreira (38), Riyan Parag (11), Dasun Shanaka (3) and Jofra Archer (7) saw out the remainder of the innings, as the Royals gave the Titans a target of 215 to win.
After Sooryavanshi impressed, Gill sent the crowd at the PCA New Cricket Stadium wild as he advanced to a score of 104 off just 53 deliveries.
He smashed a whopping 15 fours and three sixes to amass his fifth century in IPL cricket, before he was dismissed by Archer.
Fellow opener Sai Sudharsan also produced a dominant display with the bat, making 58 runs off 32 deliveries, as the Titans moved to 182-2 after 15 overs.
Jos Buttler arrived at the crease after Sudharsan was dismissed to make an unbeaten score of nine, as Washington Sundar (16) and Rahul Tewatia (17*) helped the Titans book their place in the final.
They have played Royal Challengers Bengaluru three times this year, losing two of those, including their most recent qualifying final clash earlier this week, where they were beaten by 92 runs.
Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara believes Sooryavanshi is capable of playing for India despite his age.
"The guy, at 15 years old, he's very mature, he reads the game really well, he reads situations well, and he's got no fear," Sangakkara told reporters after Rajasthan's defeat.
"We are very proud of the season that he's had and we just want to make sure that he keeps going, keeps that intent, keeps that no-fear attitude, and keeps growing. He's going to be even better as the years go by."
Asked if he was ready to play for India, Sangakkara said: "You never know if anyone's ready until they play them.
"With everything Vaibhav has shown against some of the best bowlers in the world, I think he's more than ready to take on any challenge that you throw at him.
"And I'm sure that he'll get that call-up very soon. He's back with a lot of maturity. He shouldered the responsibility of that opening partnership so well for us this season."
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