Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is only just 15, yet on a slow Guwahati surface on Monday night he raced to 52 from 17 deliveries and dragged Rajasthan Royals to an eight-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings. A performance that audacious inevitably prompts the next question: how close is he to the national side?
Piyush Chawla, watching from the studio, did not mince words. “If he plays like that, would love to see him fast-tracked,” he said. Sitting alongside, Ambati Rayudu offered qualified agreement. “He looks a cut above a lot of youngsters in the country, and he’s a talent that will definitely do wonders for Indian cricket. I don’t know when, but definitely in the future,” Rayudu observed. “The way he has been batting and the freedom with which he has been batting, it’s a great testament to the fact that [RRs] management has been doing a wonderful job, not complicating things for him. And his shot-making – the ease with which he’s been taking on bowlers is unbelievable at this age.”
Inside the Royals’ camp there is a conscious effort to shield the teenager from the noise. Captain Riyan Parag explained the approach: “The messaging to Vaibhav is like… we don’t put pressure on him and don’t want him to be aware of the noise outside. So it’s about what he likes doing. He likes batting, so we ensure that he gets to bat enough in the nets. If there’s something he likes to eat, we make sure that’s available for him.”
Parag admitted he remains as wide-eyed as the paying public. “As far as what he does inside [the ground] is concerned, like Dhruv [Jurel] and I were sitting outside and the first two-three overs had been bowled, we were wondering how he was hitting the ball so well when the wicket was a bit sticky, it had some moisture. Like everyone in the stands, we also watch him the same way. We are also like ‘wow, how does he do it’. I feel he is a talent and I am very glad that he is in our team and not in another team.”
Sooryavanshi has been ticking off landmarks at bewildering speed. He was Player of the Tournament at the Under-19 World Cup in Harare earlier this year, scoring 439 runs in seven innings. He is the youngest to appear in the IPL, the youngest to make a men’s T20 hundred and also the owner of the fastest 150 in men’s List-A cricket. With each success the clamour grows, even if his handlers keep deflecting the spotlight.
Mike Hussey, working with the CSK set-up, sounded more pragmatic than alarmed. “But when you’ve got a batsman there that is very clear on how he wants to play, and he’s going hard, going hard at every ball, and some days it’s going to come off and some days it’s not. Today it came off for him,” Hussey noted. Fair enough: the same daring that produced Monday’s mayhem may, on another day, bring a brief stay.
Rayudu, for his part, does not see an immediate Test berth but won’t rule out a limited-overs opening. “I think definitely the T20 format [for his maiden call-up]. If he has a very good IPL and if he shows that he has the ability to keep calm under pressure… because, don’t forget, our Indian team is a world champion team. It’s won the T20 World Cup. So to replace somebody in that side is not easy,” he cautioned.
The selectors, historically wary of promoting prodigies too quickly, will look beyond one whirlwind cameo. They will consider how Sooryavanshi copes when bowlers push the ball across him, whether he can handle sustained short-pitched bowling, and how his fielding and running between the wickets stack up against international standards. They also know teenagers can flatten out just as suddenly as they rise.
Yet the basics are impossible to miss: a high back-lift, unflustered head position, an instinct for picking length before bowlers complete their action. Those attributes translate across conditions, formats and pressure situations. Even in Monday’s chase he was not swinging blindly; most boundaries were orthodox strokes hit a fraction earlier than defenders expected.
A call-up this season? That still feels quick, though not inconceivable. The national T20 side tours South Africa later in the year, and the selectors have previously experimented with fringe players on that trip. Much, then, rests on the next six weeks of IPL cricket: can Sooryavanshi back up the headline innings with three or four sturdy 30s and 40s? If he does, the panel may well test him in international colours before he finishes Year 11.
For now the Royals will continue to give him space. Short, sharp sessions in the nets, plenty of recovery, and as Parag joked, the occasional extra helping of his favourite dessert. Professional cricket is unforgiving, but a teenager performing like this deserves room to breathe.
Regardless of when the cap comes, Monday night offered a glimpse of why coaches and commentators are so intrigued. It was a reminder that Indian cricket’s production line never quite slows, and that sometimes, every now and then, a 15-year-old turns up and makes seasoned professionals say “wow”.
