At 15, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is something of an enigma. He is tipped to be the next big thing in Indian cricket. But is he really worth the hype?
It’s not the first time that a teen Indian cricketer has made the headlines on a regular basis. Sachin Tendulkar, Amol Muzumdar, Unmukt Chand, Prithvi Shaw and many others showed early promise. With the exception of Tendulkar, the others failed terribly later, sorry to say.
From what we have seen so far Sooryavanshi is more of a slogger. On his day he really can take any bowling opposition to the cleaners. But those kinds of players don’t last long, especially in international cricket. The right technique and right shot selection are the key things for a batsman. Sooryavanshi sadly lacks both.
Take Abhishek Sharma, for example. In the recently concluded T20 World Cup, he got exposed quite a bit because certain aspects of his game, including the ones above, were not sharpened enough. T20 is the only format where you can last for a while with those shortcomings.
When Sooryavanshi hit a 35-ball Indian Premier League century last year for Rajasthan Royals against Gujarat Titans, everyone thought India had finally found a prodigious talent. Which is understandable. All the top cricketers in the world play in the IPL, and any century there will have to be taken seriously. In the following matches, however, there was no consistency.
Later in the year, in Bihar colours against Arunachal Pradesh, when he became the youngest to score a List-A hundred in men’s cricket, his legend understandably grew immeasurably. It’s easier to take the world by storm in your initial outings because your rivals have not seen much of you. But over time, they do, and then only your real challenge begins. The fact is that not even Indian selectors are convinced that he is international material yet.
Because if they thought he was, he wouldn’t be playing for under-age teams. He was part of the Under-19 World Cup-winning team last month and scored a thumping knock in the final, 175 off 80 balls. He did well in the tournament, but not so much because he was awesome. It was because he was playing against bowlers with practically no high-quality experience.
It was a teen vs toddlers contest to all intents and purposes. He also played in the ACC Under-19 Men’s Asia Cup, where he appeared to struggle against oppositions which boasted quality bowling. And whenever he scored big, he was often dropped multiple times. We have Tendulkar’s example, who only played a handful of List A and first-class matches before making his India debut. So, Sooryavanshi is not Tendulkar.
His backers will say that Virender Sehwag had no great technique either, and his foot movement left a lot to be desired. But then Sehwag had great shot selection, and he looked beautiful when he played those shots. In the most demanding format that is Test cricket, he averaged almost 50. In Sooryavanshi’s case, it’s only brute power. There is no technique to speak of, at least as of now. Doesn’t qualify for Tests or ODIs at the moment for sure.
The international arena is very different. The quality of bowlers over there is just next level. And nobody is going to drop your catches as they often do in under-age cricket. The opposition teams have done their homework!
So, Sooryavanshi will have to improve. He has to learn to build his innings. He has to learn to be patient, to pick his bowlers. Assess the conditions. How to play under pressure. So far, he has been more like a showman.
But it’s cricket, not cinema. The next couple of years are very important for him. Instead of trying to score quick-fire runs, he should try to work on the abovementioned things. If he does that, maybe we will have a player for the future. If not, don’t be surprised if he turns out to be the next Shaw or Chand. Hope, the birthday boy is listening.
