Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hands out his first IPL wicket maiden to Lucknow’s Mohsin Khan

Maiden overs are rare in IPL; even rarer are ones delivered to the prodigiously talented Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. But we finally had one, and that credit goes to Lucknow Super Giants pacer Mohsin Khan, who not only kept the 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals hitman (read boy) quiet for five deliveries, but claimed his prized wicket (8 runs off 11) in the final ball of the over in Lucknow on Wednesday.

Sooryavanshi had been unusually silent in the powerplay, probably as LSG had struck twice in three overs to leave RR at 32/2, with veteran pacer Mohammed Shami taking the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal (22 off 12) and Dhruv Jurel (0 off 1).

Left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan was introduced in the fourth over with Sooryavanshi on strike. The speedster's natural angle into a left-hander, delivered in excess of 140 km/hr, kept Sooryavanshi on the back foot. Rather, his lack of footwork made it difficult to play wild swings at the smart lengths picked by Khan. After four defensive shots and nearly nicking one behind, Sooryavanshi appeared determined to deny the pacer a maiden.

Sooryavanshi tried to go big on the onside to Khan's fullish delivery that logged 142 km/hr, but skied it, and Digvesh Rathi took a wonderful catch running several metres from cover.

Sooryavanshi had been quite impressive this season, with two half-centuries and three scores in excess of 30.

Mohsin Khan is one of the finest uncapped pacers from India, who has been with LSG since 2022. In IPL 2023, he famously bowled a brilliant final over against the Mumbai Indians with 11 required. He gave just five runs.