New Delhi: At 14, Vaibhav Suryavanshi has the world at his feet.While commentating in the second Test of the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, former India coach Ravi Shastri and ex-wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik unanimously predicted that the teenager is destined to play for the Indian senior team. Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, who is the Director of Cricket at Rajasthan Royals – the franchise Suryavanshi represents in the Indian Premier League (IPL) – revealed how the teen prodigy is already flooded with endorsement deals.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Jos Buttler, who had the best seat in the house when Suryavanshi smoked a 35-ball 100 in a six-fest against Gujarat Titans in April, was floored by his bat swing and compared it to Yuvraj Singh and Brian Lara.Indeed, the teenager, who hails from Bihar’s Samastipur district, is special.While the Indian men’s team – led by Shubman Gill, once a prodigy himself – has cornered England’s Bazballers in the ongoing five-match Test series, India’s women’s team has won a historic T20I series against England. And then there is the India U19 team, who are also making quite some noise on English soil.Suryavanshi played a crucial role in India U19’s 3-1 series win over England U19 in the Youth ODIs. The swashbuckling opener amassed 355 runs at a strike rate of 174 while smashing 27 sixes. He then scored a crucial second-innings half-century in the Youth Test.
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Daniel Peacock, a cricket analyst and statistician for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), who has been covering the U19 series, shares how the teenager has already become a crowd-puller.“The first time I watched him in the flesh though, I do remember a real air of excitement at Northamptonshire for the second one-dayer – more photos, more press, the BBC had even come to see him play,” Peacock tells TimesofIndia.com.“I knew I was watching a serious star talent. He hit 86 from 31 in a 40-over game [reduced due to weather], which included six fours and nine sixes [match 3 at Northants]. He got a standing ovation after pulling the pacer Sebastian Morgan to backward square leg. The PA announcer, when announcing his score after the dismissal, said: ‘I think we will be seeing a lot more of this boy play.’”
Vaibhav Suryavanshi
“Then at New Road, home of Worcestershire, in a near-perfect all-round performance, he strutted comfortably to 143 off 78 balls. By the time he walked off after being caught in the deep to spin, I think everyone inside the venue had long realised they had just witnessed something really special.”In the ongoing series, there are plenty of youngsters from both sides who are tipped to play for the senior teams in the future. Suryavanshi is at the top. His opening partner, Ayush Mhatre, who had a tough outing in the ODIs, scored a beautiful century in the Youth Test. On the opposite side are Archie Vaughan and Rocky Flintoff – sons of former England captains Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff, respectively, who are touted to be the next big things in English cricket.Suryavanshi’s IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals shared images of fans who drove six hours just to meet the youngster, and Peacock vouches for it, saying the current U19 series is getting more media attention only because of him.“People are starting to make noise about him here. Cricket fans already know who he is – even if they can’t all pronounce his name. These games usually attract a few die-hards, but there’s certainly been a little extra media attention (we’ve had the likes of BBC, The Athletic, Getty, etc.), and a lot of British-Indians have come to watch Vaibhav play in the flesh for the first time,” he said.“I’m sure it won’t be too long until he’s playing at the highest level – Test and international cricket. When he does make his debut and starts scoring big, everyone in the world will know who he is.”There’s already plenty of hype around the youngster, with some calling him the next Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli. But, absurdly, is it plausible that he can achieve even bigger things?“The people I’ve spoken to in the game – I think we all have the same feeling. We’ve watched and witnessed a young star in the making, something very special. I would go as far as to say he’s probably the best 14-year-old in any sport that I’ve seen live. I think the sentiment in England is that we are watching a very special young boy playing cricket – and the expectancy is Tendulkar-Kohli-level, or even beyond,” said Peacock.
