Vihaan Malhotra and spinner Kanishk Chauhan with Vaibhav SuryavanshiImage Credit source: Instagram
Young Indian batsman Vaibhav Suryavanshi will once again be the center of attraction in the IPL 2026 season. Making his IPL debut at the age of just 14, Vaibhav has left his mark across the world in the last 8-9 months. Now soon he will do wonders in the Under-19 World Cup 2026 also. In this World Cup, two such friends of Vaibhav Suryavanshi will also be a part of Team India, who will then leave their mark in IPL also because these two players have been bought in the IPL 2026 auction. These two friends of Vaibhav are Vihaan Malhotra and Kanishk Chauhan.
Kanishk-Vihaan get a chance in the same team
India and Malaysia were face to face in the Under-19 Asia Cup 2026 match on Tuesday, 16 December in Dubai. On one hand this match was going on and after some time in Abu Dhabi, about 150 kilometers away from Abu Dhabi, Auction for IPL 2026 season was beginning. Vaibhav Suryavanshi was playing in this match but apart from him, Vihaan Malhotra and Kanishk Chauhan also came out to show their mettle. This match was not good for Vihaan and he could score only 7 runs but Kanishk bowled economically and took 1 wicket.
Both of them together contributed to Team India’s victory and then shortly after this, Vihaan and Kanishk got the most special news. The names of both of them came up at the very end of the IPL auction and both of them found buyers. Left-handed batting all-rounder Vihaan Malhotra was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for a base price of Rs 30 lakh. After this, the next number was spinner all-rounder Kanishk and he was also bought by Bengaluru at the base price of Rs 30 lakh.
One is a strong batsman, the other is a strong spinner.
Talking about Vihaan Malhotra, he has shown his strength on the England tour just a few months ago. He scored 277 runs in 2 youth test matches here. In 5 ODI matches, he also scored 243 runs at an average of 48, which included a century. At the same time, it has proved difficult for the batsmen to understand the spin of off-break bowler Kanishk. Recently, during the Australia tour, he took 6 wickets in 3 ODI matches with the Under-19 team. In the Under-19 Asia Cup also, he has taken 4 wickets in 3 matches, out of which 3 wickets came against Pakistan only.