A new rivalry is brewing slowly between India’s teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and England’s express pacer Jofra Archer. The duo might be teammates during the Indian Premier League seasons at the Rajasthan Royals but when it comes to the international arena, there is no camaraderie or friendship.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi might be a newcomer but he has already developed a bit of a rivalry with Jofra Archer. The 15-year-old, who had a reckless IPL 2026 season, smashed his first-ever international six against Archer in the 2nd T20I at Manchester, where Sooryavanshi got out for 14 off 10 on his senior India debut.
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In the 3rd T20I, Sooryavanshi’s temperament remained the same as he scored a first ball six off Jofra Archer during India’s unsuccessful chase of 202 in Trent Bridge. Later on, Vaibhav smashed Josh Tongue for another massive six towards the leg-side to set the tone perfectly for the chase. Hitting bowlers like Archer and Tongue for sixes is no easy feat but that’s the teenager is known for.
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However, just as it looked like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was going to score something big, the teenager’s range hitting instincts led to his departure. Archer got his sweet revenge in Nottingham as dismissed the youngster with a blistering 145 kmph short ball that took a deflection off Sooryavanshi’s gloves for an easy catch behind to Jos Buttler.
Jofra Archer went on to take two more wickets of Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel and was even named Player of the match for figures of 3/29. Archer was asked about his brewing rivalry with Sooryavanshi and the Englishman smiled about their battle and sent a clear message to his young rival.
“Well yeah, I think it’s even now. But we’ve got another two games left and it could go either way, so may the best man win,” Archer said in the post match presentation.
Archer witnessed first-hand how Sooryavanshi dismantled bowling attacks in the IPL 2026. The 15-year-old shattered several records by hitting 72 sixes and racking up 776 runs to win the Orange Cap and the Most Valuable Player award. On the back of that tremendous season, the teenager was called-up for India’s European tour.
After sitting out in the 2-match series in Ireland, Sooryavanshi was handed his debut in the 2nd of a 5-match T20I series against England.
As for the match itself, England completely outclassed India to claim a dominant 125-run victory. Batting first, the hosts posted a competitive 201 for 7, powered by Phil Salt’s 70 and an unbeaten 41 from Sam Curran.
India’s chase never got going as they collapsed to a shocking 76 all out. Archer led the destructive bowling display with figures of 3 for 29 while Josh Tongue picked up 4 for 38 to hand England a 2-0 unassailable lead in the series.
