Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has heaped praise on the 14-year-old youngster Vaibhav Suryavanshi, claiming that he could soon be seen featuring for India in the senior national team, foreseeing his continuous rise in the game.
“He will play First-Class cricket, but that’s what the IPL does. It gives you that platform. The whole country sees you. And you catch the imagination of everyone,” said Ravi Shastri during the ongoing test between India and England at Edgbaston.
“It will fast-track him if he goes and plays First-Class cricket, goes and gets a couple of hundreds in his first couple of seasons.” This is how Shastri clarified his take on Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s future in Indian cricket while in conversation with Michael Atherton.
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“He has already caught the eyes; already made it to the Under-19 team at the age of 14. Smacking it everywhere. And it’s tours like this to England, with this exposure. He can only improve,” Ravi Shastri added.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s blistering knock in England
The Indian youngster aged 14 years is currently seen as one of the fiercest strikers of the game. Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s latest heroics unfolded in the Youth ODI against England U-19, where he smashed a stunning 143-run knock off just 78 balls.
Suryavanshi, with the innings, powered India to a huge 363/9, as he went on to hit 13 fours and 10 humongous sixes. This marked a record-breaking hundred, which was one of the fastest centuries in just 52 balls.
This is the fastest hundred scored in the history of Youth ODIs, surpassing former Pakistani batter Kamran Ghulam, who scored it in 53 balls almost a decade back in 2013.
Records Vaibhav Suryavanshi broke for India U-19
Suryavanshi, who hails from Bihar, already possesses several records in the senior format of the game, as it marks leaving behind several greats of the game. Aged just 14 years and 100 days, Suryavanshi’s U-19 century is the century scored by the youngest player, surpassing former Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto.
Suryavanshi also possesses the current record of the second-fastest U-19 Youth Test hundred, which came against Australia U-19 last year in Chennai off just 58 balls. He is only behind Moeen Ali’s historic Youth Test hundred of just 56 balls back in 2005.
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Suryavanshi has the record for the fastest hundred in IPL
The Indian youngster Vaibhav Suryavanshi is a dynamic left-handed batter who dominated in the IPL playing for the Rajasthan Royals. Suryavanshi played in 7 matches for the Rajasthan Royals in this season of the IPL, as he scored 252 runs with a blistering strike rate of 206.
The 14-year-old has amazed all with his debut in the IPL, being the youngest debutant and also the youngest player in the history of the tournament to score a hundred. His hundred came against the Gujarat Titans.
He is now only behind Chris Gayle, who had a hundred off just 30 balls, as he scored his second-fastest hundred within 35 balls, surpassing the likes of former greats David Miller, Yusuf Pathan, Travis Head, and more.