At just 15, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has managed to crack the code in white-ball. The teenage batting prodigy swept away multiple honours, including the Orange Cap, Most Valuable Player, Emerging Player, Super Striker and Super Sixes awards during the most recent Indian Premier League season, with a staggering 776-run campaign with the Rajasthan Royals.
Prior to the IPL, the teenager also had a stellar ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup campaign earlier this year, where he amassed 439 runs and was named Player of the Tournament.
His rising stock in the shortest format of the game intensified calls for a national call-up. It was only a matter of time before he earned his maiden senior India cap, becoming the youngest player to represent the country in international cricket.
While his limited-overs exploits have earned widespread acclaim, his technique against the moving red ball continues to draw scrutiny. Statistically, across his limited First-Class appearances, Sooryavanshi’s red-ball record has yet to make a compelling case.
Across eight Ranji Trophy appearances last season, Sooryavanshi gathered a modest 207 runs at an average of 17.25, with a best of 83. Undeterred by those numbers, the young batter is leaving no stone unturned as he looks to prove his pedigree in the long format.
After all, he has been handed a leadership role for the upcoming Duleep Trophy campaign, where he will deputise for Ishan Kishan in the East Zone squad. Sooryavanshi has shifted his focus to red-ball cricket, currently toiling at Rajasthan Royals’ 10-day camp in Nagpur.
Succeeding in Test cricket requires patience, precise shot selection, and long periods of concentration. While statistics often do little justice to a player’s true potential, the ability to adapt quickly at every level certainly does. And Sooryavanshi has demonstrated that exact adaptability across his brief white-ball career thus far.
His most recent outing against Zimbabwe is a testament to that adaptability. He took 49 balls to score 83 – a strike rate of 169.38 – which is well below his usual aggressive standards, considering he struck at over 220 during the IPL.
While age is still on his side, whether or not he can succeed in Test cricket completely depends on whether his game can evolve beyond power-hitting. For starters, Sooryavanshi is working on his red-ball game at the Rajasthan Royals performance centre rather than focusing on white-ball cricket.