‘Wouldn’t mind watching Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in all three formats’:Ravi Ashwin praises RR prodigy; Parthiv Patel hails Jason Holder’s impact

To say that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has lit up the IPL this season will be an understatement and the youngster continues to make his presence felt in every opportunity he gets. Ravichandran Ashwin, much like the others, has been left impressed by the youngster and wants to see him donning the whites for India. Sooryavanshi is competing in his second IPL season and has amassed 440 runs in 11 matches, with a massive strike rate of 236.55. The youngster has made himself an integral part of the Rajasthan Royals’ outfit as the inaugural champions continue their charge for a spot in the playoffs. Ravi Ashwin wants to see Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in Test cricket Ashwin, who is currently a JioStar expert in IPL 2026, heaped praise on the young Sooryavanshi who continues to amaze current and former cricketers, alike. “He is leaving no stone unturned, putting every ounce of force he can into the cricket ball. The way he played, even in the U-19 World Cup final, putting everything together, he is looking like a box-office player. There are very few windows in your cricketing career where you can absolutely enjoy your cricket, and he is only 15 years old. I think we should just let him be,” Ashwin said. “If he can give them flying starts, then with the batting line-up they have, they should be winning games like those comfortably. He is taking every bowler down. I wouldn’t mind watching him in a Test match, and I wouldn’t mind watching him in all three formats of the game. Get him onto cricket grounds, get people coming along, because he is going to entertain you,” he added. R Ashwin slams RR’s ‘ordinary performance’ Ashwin, however, was critical of Royals’ bowling performance. The RR bowlers leaked 82 runs inside the powerplay and allowed the established opening pair of Gill and Sudharsan to register a 118-run opening partnership. “When you have a game like this, as the Rajasthan Royals did, I think they will have their task cut out in the remaining three games. That was a very ordinary performance. It was bizarre at times, with some strange bowling plans and poor execution,” Ashwin said on his former team’s performance. He added, “They just didn’t have anything going for them. GT is a very good team, and they have a great bowling attack, but that’s not a side that makes 230. I felt that it was given on a platter by RR. And once GT got that score, I don’t think RR had enough in the tank to chase it down.” Parthiv Patel shares insights on GT batters’ preparations Gujarat Titans (GT) continued their upward curve in IPL 2026, dishing out a dominant display to register a 77-run win over the Rajasthan Royals, their biggest in the IPL so far. Riding on captain Shubman Gill’s 84 and Sai Sudharsan’s 55, the 2022 champions posted a 229/4, a score which proved to be more than good enough. Speaking on JioHotstar’s ‘Google Search AI Mode Match Centre Live’, GT Assistant Coach Parthiv Patel shared insights into his conversation with the batters during training sessions. “Most of the conversations with the batters are about scenarios where the opposition bowlers could potentially target them and the kind of fields they could set for a particular batter,” Patel shared. “We practice a lot, especially with the middle order, because they don’t always get enough time in matches. We have our B ground, where we try to prepare them as much as possible by putting them in match scenarios. So, whether it was Tewatia hitting those two sixes in the last over in this game or Washington finishing the game against Punjab, these are the kinds of real-time match situations we have attempted to replicate for our batters,” he further explained. ‘Holder has turned things around for us’ Jason Holder has seemed to inject fresh life into GT’s campaign. The all-rounder, signed for Rs 7 crore at the auction last year, has made a big difference to the balance of the team. Holder so far has picked up 10 wickets in five matches and has made himself an inseparable part of the squad at this point. Speaking on the difference that Holder has made, Patel said, “When we were planning for the auction, we were okay with not getting any other player, but we were determined to get Jason Holder. When we were planning for the auction, we were okay with not getting any other player, but we were determined to get Jason Holder. We have seen how he has performed over the last 12 to 18 months in T20 cricket around the world,” Patel shared. “He is an experienced player and also brings leadership qualities with him. We wanted to utilise Glenn Phillips’ form at the start, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. However, the inclusion of Holder at the right time has turned things around for us,” he added.