The 13-year-old opening batter from Bihar, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, is younger than the Indian Premier League (IPL) and was expected to break new records in the mega auction of the 18th season of the tournament on the back of his excellent batting performance for the Under-19 India side against Australia in the recent two red-ball series.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the left-handed top order batter with an age of 13 years and 243 days, has already been part of the under-19 side of the Blue Brigade and celebrated his century in the four-day contest less than a month ago at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. He recently made his debut in first-class cricket, where he smashed 100 runs in ten innings at a strike rate of over 60.
But his potential is something different, and is expected to do wonders by rubbing shoulders with the most quality players of world cricket. Coming into the auction, his bid began at INR 30 lakh before the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and the Delhi Capitals (DC) made themselves involved in the bidding battle, which eventually went in the favor of the former for the ultimate price of INR 1.10 crore.
Also Read: Rahul Dravid Spills The Beans On Major Difference Of IPL Auction After 8 Seasons
Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest player in the IPL to sign the contract as the CEO of the inaugural champions of the event, Jake Lush McCrum, at the end of the auction, stated that the satisfaction of their coaching set-up after the player’s performance in their trails pushed them in hiring.
“He’s been to our high-performance center in Nagpur, he had trials there and impressed our coaching set-up there. He’s an incredible talent, and of course, you have to have the confidence so he can step up to the IPL level. So lots of work will go in in the coming months to continue to develop him, but he is a hell of a talent, and we’re excited to have him as part of the franchise.” The CEO of the RR franchise expressed after the end of the mega auction.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi to work under the coaching of Rahul Dravid in RR
The youngster hails from Samastipur, which is about 100 kilometers north-east of Patna, has featured in five Ranji Trophy games since his first-class debut game against Mumbai at the start of this year and is currently featuring in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2024 in the shortest format for Bihar. He recently made his T20 debut against Rajasthan on November 23.
However, the highlight of the short career of Vaibhav Suryavanshi came during the century knock against the Australia U-19 side, which came off just 58 balls before he fell for 104. That knock pushed him to become the youngest player to score a century in youth cricket, going past the previous record held by the current all-format Bangladesh captain, Najmul Hossain Shanto, who achieved the feat at the age of 14 years and 241 days.
Also Read: Rishabh Pant Locked In To Lead LSG During IPL 2025? Franchise Owner Discloses
Vaibhav Suryavanshi also managed to crack the triple century to his name, an unbeaten 332-run knock in the U-19 tournament in Bihar, which is called the Randhir Verma Tournament. Over time, he has idolized the former West Indies captain Brain Lara and the former opening batter of India, Wasim Jaffer, as he met the latter during a U-19 white-ball camp in Bangladesh in November 2023.
The inclusion of the opening batter, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, for the Royals will be immense as he could now work under the former Indian head coach, Rahul Dravid, and manage him, in a better way for the future.