On Monday evening at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Rajasthan Royals head coach Rahul Dravid could not help himself and jumped out of his wheelchair as the 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi reached to his whirlwind 35-ball century against Gujarat Titans.
TimesofIndia.com understands that it was VVS Laxman who recommended Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s name to Rajasthan Royals’ head coach Rahul Dravid. And since then Dravid has taken the teenage prodigy under his wings.
For past two years, Laxman, head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has been monitoring Vaibhav’s growth and now it is Dravid, who is taking care of the 14-year-old and working on the enhancement of his game.
Now another cricket great, Sachin Tendulkar, once a prodigy himself has showered praise on Suryavasnhi.
Surayavanshi has caught Tendulkar’s eyes with his fearless approach, his bat speed and ability to pick length early.
“Vaibhav’s fearless approach, bat speed, picking the length early, and transferring the energy behind the ball was the recipe behind a fabulous innings,” he wrote on X>
“End result: 101 runs off 38 balls. Well played!!”
Suryavanshi’s century was also the quickest by an Indian in the IPL, bettering Yusuf Pathan’s 37-ball effort for Rajasthan against the Mumbai Indians in 2010.
Suryavanshi grabbed headlines when he became the youngest player to earn a contract in the lucrative IPL at the age of 13, before making his debut this month and announcing himself in style with a six off the first ball he faced.
He played in the domestic Ranji Trophy red-ball competition aged 12 last year and has represented India’s Under-19 side against Australia, scoring a 58-ball century.
