Indian Cricket has unearthed some of the greatest names in this game, and continues to do so, making it a routine now. After producing the likes of batting God Sachin Tendulkar and modern-day maestro Virat Kohli among countless others, it seemed to have churned out another one in 14-year-old teen wonder boy Vaibhav Suryavanshi.
The left-handed batter needs no introduction. At such a tender age, he has already scaled heights and broken records, even the best struggle to; so much so that even the opposition camp is in awe of his game, with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) analyst and statistician revealing what Vaibhav’s counterparts think of him.
Following his dream IPL debut this season (for Rajasthan Royals), wherein he hit a six off his first ball in the cash-rich league, Vaibhav broke the internet with a 35-ball hundred against Gujarat Titans in Jaipur, creating an IPL record for the quickest hundred by an Indian in the competition.
A couple of months later, on India’s U-19 multi-format tour of England, he smoked a 78-ball 143 in a white-ball match at Worcester, stunning the opposition. His attacking style of play left the English players and fans drooling over his cricket. During the One-Day matches, he scored a staggering 355 runs in four contested matches, striking at 174 and hitting 27 sixes.
Reflecting on Vaibhav’s lasting impact on the game and the English fans, ECB analyst and statistician Daniel Peacock revealed how it star-struck everyone, to an extent, where the fans call him on ‘Tendulkar-Kohli level or even beyond.’
“The people I’ve spoken to in the game – I think we all have the same feeling. We’ve watched and witnessed a young star in the making, something very special. I would go as far as to say he’s probably the best 14-year-old in any sport that I’ve seen live. I think the sentiment in England is that we are watching a very special young boy playing cricket – and the expectancy is Tendulkar-Kohli-level, or even beyond,” Peacock said in a chat with Times of India (TOI).
‘He has started making noise here’
Suryavanshi has made all the right noises across the cricket world thus far, and how could England be spared? Peacock revealed that despite the English fans being unable to pronounce his name, they came in abundance to watch him play.
“People are starting to make noise about him here. Cricket fans already know who he is – even if they can’t all pronounce his name. These games usually attract a few die-hards, but there’s certainly been a little extra media attention (we’ve had the likes of BBC, The Athletic, Getty, etc.), and a lot of British-Indians have come to watch Vaibhav play in the flesh for the first time,” he said.