Bihar’s 14-year-old cricket prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi made history on Sunday (July 13) by becoming the youngest Indian to take a wicket in a Youth Test match during India Under-19’s ongoing game against England at the Kent County Cricket Ground in Beckenham. At 14 years and 107 days, Suryavanshi claimed the wicket of England captain Hamza Shaikh, marking his place as the third-youngest bowler overall to achieve this feat in Youth Test cricket.The young left-arm spinner’s breakthrough came in the 45th over when Shaikh miscued a full-toss outside off-stump, resulting in a catch by Henil Patel at long-off. This dismissal broke a crucial 154-run partnership between Shaikh and Rocky Flintoff.Suryavanshi’s record surpassed the previous Indian mark set by Jharkhand’s Manishi, who took wickets against South Africa in Thiruvananthapuram in 2019 at just over 15 years of age. In the overall rankings, Suryavanshi stands third, behind two Pakistani players – Mahmood Malik and Hidayatullah Khan, who achieved their records at 13 years of age.As England posted 439 on the board, Suryavanshi posted figures of 2/35 in 13 overs. After Shaikh’s wicket, the Indian youngster got rid of wicketkeeper Thomas Rew, who tried to cut the outside-off delivery but ended up edging it behind to Abhigyan Kundu.The match has seen India establish a commanding position after posting a substantial first innings total of 540. England’s Under-19 team responded with 439 runs, to give India a 101 run lead.At stumps on Day 3, India had moved to 128/3, with Vaibhav Suryavanshi scoring a 44-ball 56, with the lead extending to 229 runs. The four-day Test concludes on Tuesday.
