A curious weakness explained — Why Vaibhav Sooryavanshi struggles against full tosses

Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins was left scratching his head in disbelief after his side’s defeat against Rajasthan Royals in the 2026 IPL eliminator.

“Yeah, he played pretty well. You don’t feel like you have too many options against him,” Cummins said in praise of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

It was a verdict that carried an underlying sense of helplessness, a feeling many of the world’s best bowlers had experienced while bowling to Sooryavanshi in the tournament.

As captain of Australia, Cummins has been successful with subduing his opposition numerous times. But against 15-year-old Sooryavanshi, the Australian had no answers, as the teenager carted the SRH bowlers to all parts of the park on his way to a breathtaking 29-ball 97, studded with 12 sixes.

Sooryavanshi followed it up with a 47-ball 96 against Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 and most recently, a stunning 27-ball 91 in the Tri Nation Series final against Sri Lanka A.

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Such is what has become routine for the boy wonder, with his devastating six hitting ability and all-out attacking approach.

And what has perhaps stood out the most in his game has been his ball striking efficiency with lengths of all kinds, against both pace and spin.

Any ball that gets pitched, no matter how close to or far from the batting crease, the teenager has been able to dispatch with ridiculous ease. Even against the hard lengths, a delivery which generally tests batters, Sooryavanshi, blessed with the gift of fast hands and ability to pick the lengths early, has struck at 173.72.

In this context, one would think bowling a full toss to Sooryavanshi would yield the worst possible outcome. Yet curiously, the very delivery that batters relish facing and see as a boundary scoring-option option has proved to be a stumbling block for the southpaw.

Sooryavanshi’s record against the full toss

Sooryavanshi, across the last two IPL seasons and the three T20Is against England, has faced 24 full tosses in his senior career. Of these 24 deliveries, Sooryavanshi has scored only 24 runs, at a strike rate of 100. Half of the full tosses he has faced have been dot balls, and nine of them have been singles.

Among bowlers who have delivered these generous offerings to Sooryavanshi, Sri Lanka’s Eshan Malinga tops the list of most full tosses bowled with four. Also part of the list are Mitchell Starc, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Jofra Archer and Bhuvneshwar Kumar — bowlers known to have a lethal yorker.

The 15-year-old, who hammered 72 sixes in IPL 2026 and broke Chris Gayle’s record for most sixes hit in a single season, has hit just two sixes off full tosses, and has gotten out once to Arshdeep Singh, caught at mid-on.

So what explains this unusual paradox?

Manish Ojha, Sooryavanshi’s childhood coach, believes the answer lies in the youngster’s reaction time, as opposed to a technical flaw.

“The reason he has been so dominant against all types of bowlers boils down to his high back lift and rapid downswing, which has helped him hit the fastest bowlers in the world for sixes at will.

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But when it comes to full tosses, the window between the point of release to the point of contact with the bat marginally reduces. He picks the line and length early against other balls, and has proper judgement of what shot to play. But against full tosses his reactions are slower, which is why he’s not hitting them cleanly,” Ojha explained to Sportstar.

Ojha, who has overseen Sooryavanshi’s development since he was eight, had highlighted limitations to his game stemming from his bottom hand heavy grip in an earlier interaction, but insisted it had no connection to his full-toss struggles.

“It is all about practice. His technique is optimised to maximimise scoring opportunities with anything that gets pitched, he just needs to learn to adjust his focus with his bat speed. Batters usually don’t practice playing to full tosses in the nets but for sure, this is an area we need to work on and improve,” Ojha added.

Ojha also spoke about his protege’s performances in the three T20Is against England, admitting they fell short of expectations. The 15-year-old managed to amass just 42 runs and struggled to adapt to English conditions.

“He could have done a lot better, it was a bit disappointing for us. If you watch the match closely, he was a little impatient, he was trying to hit each and every ball. If he had played patiently to set his eye and judge the wicket before attempting big shots, he would have had a far better probability of scoring big runs. I feel he needed to consider more about the bowlers and conditions, the swing and bounce, while executing his batting plans,” Ojha said.

Thus, as Sooryavanshi prepares for the two T20Is against Zimbabwe starting on July 24, he will be aiming for better returns and a few more maximums off his willow. On the other side, Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza will be hoping his fast bowlers can contain him by nailing their yorkers — Sooryavanshi averages just 3.50 and has struck at just 31.51 against the yorker.

But should the execution miss and result in a full toss, the Zimbabwe bowlers need not fret for it would not be the worst delivery to bowl to him.

Published on Jul 22, 2026