Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the 15-year-old wonder kid from Samastipur, Bihar, has become the toast of the town. And it’s not surprising.
The youngster continues to light up the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season, and amid the rising fanfare around him, the left-hander was given a key piece of advice: not to let his guard down against the “sharks” in the world. Ever since his blitz in the U19 World Cup final against England, Sooryavanshi has signed quite a few endorsements, and this very fact has Simon Doull concerned.
The former New Zealand pacer said that the people managing Sooryavanshi should be looking out for the interests of the youngster rather than worrying about making more money for themselves. Doull said that the stocks of the Rajasthan Royals batter are rising by the minute, and hence, one has to worry about Sooryavanshi and the kind of people he’s surrounded by.
“It is a word of caution. He already is a bit of a superstar. If things carry on, we all hope he will continue to be a superstar, an Indian superstar, in white-ball cricket in particular. It’s the people you surround yourself with. He would have had every management company looking for him and trying to find deals for him,” Doull said on Cricbuzz.
“Management companies and management people are there to look after you. Too many of them only think about looking out for themselves. How much can I make of this young man? How much can my company make of this young man? That’s the biggest issue I have with management companies worldwide,” he added.
Sooryavanshi has already scored two half-centuries in the ongoing IPL 2026 season. The left-hander is continuing from where he left off last season, where he smashed the fastest century by an Indian in the tournament, getting to his century off just 35 balls against the Gujarat Titans. In the IPL 2026 season, he has already smashed two half-centuries off just 15 balls. His first failure came on Monday as he was dismissed for a golden duck by Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer Praful Hinge.
‘Watch out’
Doull further stated that the young opening batter “needs to watch out for the sharks” and surround himself with people who actually care about him and see him grow. He added that, at the end of the day, the management companies are just concerned about themselves, not their clients.
“They all worry about what they can make, not how well I should be looking out for this young man? How much should I be looking out for his career? And not making him do much at this point. The longevity should be there. If you stop performing, they would go be chasing the next bloke because that’s what managers do,” said Doull.
“Just be careful who you surround yourself with. If he’s got a good family and upbringing, he would be okay. But just watch out for the sharks,” he added.