IPL: Meet Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the Boss Baby who lit up Jaipur skies

A photo of Vaibhav Suryavanshi, on the verge of tears as he walked back after a blazing 34  on debut some days back, had gone viral. The cricketing world had taken notice of the 14-year-old precocious talent, but there was also a word of caution from Virender Sehwag to stay grounded and learn to take both praise and criticism.

 After Swai ManSingh Stadium in Jaipur on Monday, the challenge has just got bigger for the baby-faced wonder from Samastipur in Bihar, not really known for it’s cricket heroes. Comparisons have already started with the arrival of a certain Sachin Tendulkar decades back while Brian Lara, whom the southpaw considers to be his idol, has posted a photo of the Rajasthan Royals batter unleashing a carnage against an experienced and quality attack.

 No doubt, Vaibhav is the kind of spark that the IPL – looking somewhat jaded on it’s home stretch in it’s 18^th year – badly needed. The long winded format, the league trying to cling on to the some of the sport’s iconic names meant it needed a serious infusion of young blood and there were positive signals with the emergence of the likes of Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh or Ayush Mhatre. Then came Vaibhav, more as a nothing-to-lose like of move from Royals head coach Rahul Dravid in their eighth game.

No one would have bargained for the Royals to pull off the near impossible when the Gujarat Titans top order rustled up a potentially match-winning total of 209. After an unfinished business in his last two cameos (34, 16), Vaibhav had other ideas – simply stunning the likes of one of the most well rounded attacks in the league comprising of veteran Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Prasiddh Krishna, the dangerous Rashid Khan and Washington Sundar.

The IPL has, in it’s almost two decade history, seen many a batting effort which has overpowered the senses – from the ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle’s mayhem of a century off 30 balls back in 2013 to Priyansh’s 39-ball century in this edition itself. But to expect a 14-year-old execute such power and array of strokes all round the wicket for 11 sixes in his 35-ball hundred (as against seven boundaries) is simply mindboggling. When broken down, it means 93.06% of his runs came in boundaries – the highest such share in the IPL going past Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 90.32% against Mumbai Indians in 2023.  

As a new star was being born, it must have been a hectic time for statisticians and cricket writers all over the country. It’s not only the second fastest century in IPL, but Vaibhav is also the youngest ever recorded T20 centurion after Vijay Zol (18 years 118 days) in 2018.

The social media was, understandably, flooded with messages showering love and admiration for the youngster – who has already earned the nickname Boss Baby among his teammates. An extremely pertinent post came from Yusuf Pathan, whose record of the fastest IPL century by an Indian batter (37 balls) had escaped unscathed from Priyansh’s onslaught last month.

This time, it didn’t but Yusuf was elated that a Royal had broken his record. ‘’Many congratulations to young #VaibhavSuryavanshi for breaking my record of the fastest @IPL hundred by an Indian! Even more special to see it happen while playing for @rajasthanroyals, just like I did. There’s truly something magical about this franchise for youngsters,’’ Pathan posted on his X handle.

The expectations will be skyhigh when Vaibhav walks out with Jaiswal against a potent Mumbai Indians attack at home on Thursday or against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. One hopes that Vaibhav continues to do Vaibhav things – and yes – keep himself grounded.

 The journey has just begun…