Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has not once shown signs of nervousness. No matter which team he has played against, which bowler he has faced. The baby-faced wonder has come out all guns blazing, with a nonchalance tough to relate to a 15-year-old. Jasprit Bumrah. Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins. Kagiso Rabada… these are world beaters. Yet, Sooryavanshi has remained unfazed en route to punishing them in the IPL. On his India debut, he slog swept Jofra Archer for a six. At the Under-19 World Cup, he went bonkers in the title-deciding contest, and despite struggling in the India-A triangular series, Sooryavanshi preserved his finest for the all-important final. No jitters. No apprehension. No self-doubt.
Having said that, Sooryavanshi will face a test like never before as he gears up to take on Pakistan in his first India-Pakistan clash at the international level. He has faced Pakistan before, at the Under-19 Asia Cup last year, but that’s no match. This Pakistan team at the Asian Games may not be at full strength like India, but when has an India-Pakistan rivalry ever been about individuals? It’s always about the occasion, the pressure and what’s at stake.
Indian cricket has produced legends against Pakistan. The great Sachin Tendulkar made his debut against them in 1989 and, some 14 years later, played one of the most breathtaking knocks of his career at Centurion in the World Cup despite spending 12 sleepless nights prior. Tendulkar was in his 14th year of international cricket by then, and had stayed at the top. In fact, the whole mythology around Tendulkar started with his debut, when he showed tremendous courage against a lethal Pakistan bowling attack and carried on with a bleeding nose. Later, Tendulkar developed a particular liking for Pakistan on the big stage. In World Cups, Tendulkar scored 313 runs against Pakistan in ODIs, averaging 78.25 in five matches.
How Pakistan shaped Tendulkar, Kohli as legends
Look at Virat Kohli. The man relishes batting against Pakistan. He could never play a Test against them like Tendulkar, but in 17 ODI innings, Kohli has plundered 778 runs at an average of 59.84, with four hundreds. In T20Is, the numbers are equally swell with 492 runs in 11 matches at an average of 70.28. He has five Player of the Match performances against Pakistan in ICC tournaments. Add to that the 183-run epic in the Asia Cup 14 years ago. It’s almost as if you throw Pakistan at Kohli and there’s only one possible outcome. Runs. Plenty of them. Perhaps the most pressure he ever felt during an innings was in Melbourne on October 23, 2022. And the way he dealt with it, let alone came out of it, produced a masterclass that etched itself in India-Pakistan cricketing folklore.
As Sooryavanshi, still tender, continues to be compared to the two greats, the teenager gets his first real crack at Pakistan since receiving his India cap. Against spin, he tends to slow down a tad, but if the Asian Games quarter-final against Sri Lanka is anything to go by, Sooryavanshi’s 21-ball 38 blitz deserved its flowers. Ishan Kishan’s 80 may have made the difference, but India’s 170 would not have been possible without Sooryavanshi’s onslaught.
Spin woes? What’s that?
To say Sooryavanshi’s game alters against spin would be unfair. He’s yet to play on genuinely turning pitches, and his numbers against spin are rather impressive: 776 runs from 391 balls at an average of 51.73 and a strike-rate of 198.47. Against pace, Sooryavanshi transforms into a different beast altogether, scoring 2,495 runs from 1,331 balls at an average of 47.98 and a strike rate of 187.45. These are fairly impressive numbers for someone who is believed to be less free-flowing against spin.
A few things about this Pakistan bowling attack. Sufyan Moqim has played 20 T20Is for Pakistan, while Abrar has featured in 19. Mohammad Wasim, the fast bowler, has the experience of 35 T20Is, and Ali Raza is someone Sooryavanshi knows very well from their heated face-off in December’s final. Stack all of this up against Sooryavanshi, and chances are he may be overwhelmed. Only because this will be a stage unlike anything Sooryavanshi has ever seen before. When it’s India-Pakistan, expect tempers to flare, and as the previous few instances have shown, face-offs aren’t something he takes too sportingly. Vishen Halambage knows a thing or two about it. And given all that’s transpired between these two teams, their boards and a certain individual known as Mohsin Naqvi, this one is far from over.
Sooryavanshi could mature beyond years
For the longest time, cricketers, especially Indians, played down the hype surrounding an India-Pakistan tie, brushing it off as ‘just another game’. Until Suryakumar Yadav, who found himself at the centre of one of the biggest storms in their cricket, called out the truth. It is a ‘big game’. And irrespective of how lopsided the contest becomes, there will always be emotions attached. From the incomparable Javed Miandad and Imran Khan, Pakistan’s cricket has moved into the era of Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi. For India, the Kohli generation is pretty much on its way out, with Abhishek Sharma and Sooryavanshi’s crop of batters settling in, and one day, eventually taking over.
At the end of the day, India vs Pakistan is never inconsequential. And Sooryavanshi will realise it tomorrow. It’s still early days in his India career, and after a rare failure in England, a couple of fiery knocks in Zimbabwe, and being benched for all three T20Is against Afghanistan at home, a good outing could go a long way towards winning back the team management’s confidence. India-Pakistan can make Sooryavanshi mature beyond his years. Just as it did with Tendulkar in the last of the 80s and Kohli in 2012.
