Jos Buttler was all praises for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after his blistering knock of a 175 in the U19 World Cup Final.
“Jis ball pe chakka maar sakte hai, udhar single kyu le?,” said a voice in one of the coaching academies of Bihar a couple of years ago. (Meaning, why should I take a single off a delivery which I can dispatch for a six).
There would be absolutely no guesses required to come up with a name for the above mentioned sentence. There’s only one player in the Indian circuit currently, who has negated the importance of running between the wickets, so much so that, a 20-ball 40 knock starts to look like a slow one. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is one of the most decorated prodigies in Indian cricket.
The 14-year-old walked out to bat in the Final of the U19 World Cup against England, and scored a massive 175 off just 80 deliveries with 15 boundaries and as many sixes. To add to that, he laid the platform for the Boys in Blue to launch, which they eventually did – getting to 411/9.
In a recent podcast, England cricketers Jos Buttler and Stuart Broad discussed about the Indian youngster, and hailed his knock. Having known a bit about Sooryavanshi from the Indian Premier League (IPL), Buttler mentioned the state out of which he comes from, and also added a couple of more points.
“So there’s a video where we’ve seen him with his amazing bat swing, which is a bit like Yuvraj [Singh] or [Brian] Lara – like a flowing left-handed swing of the bat. But at the same time, you are a bit like, why are we getting so scared of a 14-year-old?,” said Buttler on the podcast.
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As far as the Indian youngster is concerned, there are no two ways about the way he looks at batting. However, there were signs of the 14-year-old trying to play as per the situation in this tournament, which are extremely positive signs for the Boys in Blue.
In seven innings across the U19 World Cup 2026, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi scored 439 runs at an average of 62.71, at a strike-rate of 169.49, which also happens to be the best for any batter in the tournament.
In the semi-final against Afghanistan, Sooryavanshi closed down the chase with a blistering knock upfront, which made it easier for the batters coming in later. He scored a 33-ball 68, which paved the way for India chasing a total in excess of 300.
What stands out for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is his bat swing, and the power that he is able to generate across deliveries. For the shots that he is able to pull off, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) opener has an extremely strong core, which enables him to generate power behind his shots.
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