Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been named the IPL Emerging Player of the Season after a standout 2026 campaign for Rajasthan Royals. The 15-year-old finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer with 776 runs and also struck 72 sixes, the most in a single IPL season. His aggressive batting saw him maintain a strike rate of 237.31 throughout the competition.
Notably, Sooryavanshi broke Chris Gayleโs record of 59 sixes in a season, with his own tally translating to a six every 4.31 balls. He also came close to breaking the record for the fastest IPL century during Rajasthanโs Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad, falling short after being caught at third man on his 29th delivery.
Despite Rajasthan Royals missing out on the final, his impact remained unmatched across the league stage and playoffs contention. His consistency at the top of the order kept him ahead of other young performers in the race for the award.
Following the historic season, Sooryvanshi was awarded the Emerging Player award. With that, he joined the elite list of cricketers featuring Rohit Sharma, Sanju Samson, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal among others.ย
Full List of Winners: IPL Emerging Player winners
| Player | Year | Team |
| Sreevats Goswami | 2008 | RCB |
| Rohit Sharma | 2009 | Deccan Chargers |
| Saurabh Tiwari | 2010 | MI |
| Iqbal Abdullah | 2011 | KKR |
| Mandeep Singh | 2012 | Punjab |
| Sanju Samson | 2013 | RR |
| Axar Patel | 2014 | Punjab |
| Shreyas Iyer | 2015 | Delhi |
| Mustafizur Rahman | 2016 | SRH |
| Basil Thampi | 2017 | Gujarat Lions |
| Rishabh Pant | 2018 | DC |
| Shubman Gil | 2019 | KKR |
| Devdutt Padikkal | 2020 | RCB |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad | 2021 | CSK |
| Umran Malik | 2022 | SRH |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 2023 | RR |
| Nitish Kumar Reddy | 2024 | SRH |
| Sai Sudharsan | 2025 | GT |
| Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | 2026 | RR |
RCB win IPL 2026
Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the IPL 2026. The Rajat Patidar-led side won the title in consecutive seasons and this time, the team defeated Gujarat Titans by five wickets in the summit clash.
Both the batting and the bowling units stood up on the big night as RCB won it rather comfortably. Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rasikh Salam Dar dominated the proceedings with the ball, while Virat Kohli registered an unbeaten half-century to win the game for RCB.
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