Vaibhav Suryavanshi in action for RR vs GT in an IPL 2025 match.© BCCI/IPL
Vaibhav Suryavanshi – Remember the name. What the 14-year-old kid achieved on Monday at such a tender age is what dreams are made of. Playing in only his third IPL 2025 match, Vaibhav Suryavanshi slammed a 35-ball ton for Rajasthan Royals against Gujarat Titans in Jaipur. It is the least number of balls taken by an Indian to score a ton in the IPL. At 14 years and 32 days, Vaibhav Suryavanshi is now the youngest ever to slam a century in T20 cricket. However, the fairytale journey that started from Samastipur, Bihar, has not been easy at all.
Even with baby fat refusing to leave the contours of his cheeks, the stable core and holding his shape are things that stand out.
The basics built through those hours of toil in Patna, playing 600 balls a day from the age of 10 did show its results. The days of facing 16-17 year old net bowlers for whom his father Sanjiv Suryavanshi, would pack 10 extra tiffin boxes haven’t gone waste.
The decision of the Suryavanshi family to put all their eggs in one basket and have no Plan B by selling farm land to fuel their son’s cricketing ambitions will certainly become a part of cricketing folklores that will be spoken in years to come.
Vaibhav, who kickstarted his IPL career by slamming a sixer against Shardul Thakur on his very first ball in the competition, has now made 151 runs in three matches at an average of 75.50 and a strike rate of 222.05, with the best score of 101*.
During the IPL mega-auction last year, one of the biggest surprises that emerged was Suryavanshi becoming a Royal for Rs 1.1 crore. Born on March 27, 2011, in Bihar, Vaibhav is the youngest player on the list. He made his first-class debut for Bihar in January 2024 at just 12 years and 284 days old. Last year, he was part of India U19’s match against Australia in Chennai, where he smashed a 58-ball century.
He also made his T20 debut for Bihar during the SMAT 2024 tournament, though he could not score much in his only outing. He was also the seventh-highest run-getter in the ACC Under 19 Asia Cup 2024-25. He scored 176 runs in 5 matches in the tournament with a highest score of 76*.
With ANI and PTI inputs
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