At 12 years old, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had already made his first-class debut for Bihar. At 13, he was sold to Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2025 auction for INR 1.1 crore. At 14, he played his first season for the IPL team with a memorable 35-ball century, making him an immediate household name. Today, he celebrates his 15th birthday, but it seems like he has already been around forever.
Fresh off an 80-ball 175 in the U-19 World Cup final that helped him win player of the tournament honours, Sooryavanshi gears up for his sophomore IPL season, where he has expectations on his shoulders unlike ever before in his young career.
But sometimes the talent simply outstrips the expectation, and this youngster certainly has all the talent in the world. The kind of talent which was evident to RR director of cricket Zubin Bharucha ever since trials were held in October 2024, which prompted him to tell his auction team to set aside 10 crore for the greatest Indian batting talent in several years.
Bharucha revealed this directive while speaking to ESPNcricinfo: ultimately, although they were pushed for the teenager’s signature by Delhi Capitals having started off at a base price of 30 lakhs, Sooryavanshi was signed on for a cut-price deal of 1.1 crore.
ALSO READ: Rockstar or just fizz: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been a showman so far but it’s cricket, not cinema
‘Reminded me of Jaiswal, Samson’
Now, it looks like a shrewd investment – Sooryavanshi already has the power and the batting to rival the best in the world in terms of pure hitting ability, and as he grows older, wiser, and fitter, that is only likely to become more and more consistent.
As for why Bharucha placed so much faith in Sooryavanshi, it came down to what he had showcased at trials in RR’s Talegaon academy near Nagpur. From the first ball, Sooryavanshi established himself in the category of other elite Indian youngsters who had come through the RR system.
“It reminded me of the first ball I saw Jaiswal face at a trial at DY Patil Stadium – he walked across and flicked it over short fine leg for four,” explained Bharucha. “Sanju Samson, the same thing – first ball in Jaipur at the practice ground. Amit Singh banged in a bouncer and he hit it onto the roof of the indoor stadium. First ball, kuch alag hi kiya (they did somethimn different).”
Bharucha then narrated a story of keeping Sooryavanshi back to make him face some high-pace side-armers. Despite his youth, the batter had no issues in dealing with them at all – “The first few balls, he left. But even that stood out. The way he was leaving, it felt like there was no pace on the ball. The keeper was standing 30 yards back and he’s just… so comfortably leaving them.”
Sooryavanshi’s six-hitting ‘not normal’
But as always, it was the power and the ability to hit sixes at will that earned him the wow factor and the applause.
“One of the sidearmers hit the deck hard, and Vaibhav hit it straight over the sightscreen for six. I asked for the ball speed, and it measured 157 kph! That’s not normal. Not even for the best,” explained Bharucha. “To do that off your fourth or fifth ball facing that pace – that’s when you know this is something incredibly special.”
Sooryavanshi has enjoyed his last 10 months at age group and system levels, putting inexperienced and raw bowlers to the torch by hammering big centuries and an endless number of sixes. But the scouting departments and data teams in the IPL will know what to expect from him – which means in 2026, he won’t combat just the best bowlers in the world, but the best bowlers equipped with the information needed to take him down.
For great players, it is about dealing with that adversity, always being able to adapt and make the fixes to score runs despite it all. Even at just 15 years old, that challenge is set for young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
