‘He’s my new favourite player’ – Cummins on Sooryavanshi

'He's my new favourite player' – Cummins on Sooryavanshi

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's 36-ball hundred, the third-fastest ever in IPL, was not enough to take Rajasthan Royals over the line, but it left opposition captain Pat Cummins deeply impressed.

"I think he's my new favourite player," Cummins said. "He hits the ball so hard, it's great to watch. You've got to be right on the money as a bowler, because if you're not, it's going a long way. He's had a great start to his career and I love the way he plays, takes the game on."

The first ball Cummins bowled to Sooryavanshi disappeared for six, setting the tone for another fearless innings from the 15-year-old, who has now looked comfortable against bowlers including Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, Josh Hazlewood and Arshdeep Singh.

Playing his first game of the season after returning from rehab, Cummins also weighed in on the debate around the volume of runs in the IPL. On Saturday alone, two matches produced 986 runs.

"Look, maybe," Cummins said of whether the tournament needed better bat-ball balance. "The wickets might be flat, but it's only 20 overs. It's a maximum of four overs. It is what it is. We set up our team to try and go big on batting, and as bowlers it's up to us to minimise runs. The scores look different to a few years ago, but the concept's still the same. I don't mind it."

On bowling to long batting line-ups on flat pitches with short boundaries, Cummins said: "It's a good challenge. You can have a bad couple of overs, but if you come back and bowl a really good death over, that can be match winning. In some ways it takes pressure off us bowlers knowing our batting line-up can chase whatever.

"You feel like all four overs are super important. One wicket, one really good over can be as important as a good spell in a lower scoring game. It's the same for both teams. You still need five good bowlers and often an all-rounder. It means you can play an extra spinner. I like it, you see more variety."