Tears rolled down Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s eyes as he walked in the direction of the dugout after being stumped by Rishabh Pant.
The 14-year-old batter, who grew to become the youngest participant to make an Indian Premier League debut, couldn’t come to phrases with such a dismissal.
As he slowly trudged again, nodding his head in disappointment, a packed Sawai Mansingh Stadium chanted his identify to acknowledge his efforts on Saturday.
After all, not many would have anticipated a youngster smacking Shardul Thakur for a six to begin his IPL marketing campaign. Not as soon as did the Rajasthan Royals batter look beneath stress, en path to his 20-ball-34 towards Lucknow Super Giants.
Hailing from Samastipur, a metropolis about 100 kilometres from Patna, he made his First Class debut towards Mumbai in January final yr. He went on to attain a 58-ball century for India in a youth Test towards Australia in September, and was additionally a key member of the India Under-19 Asia Cup squad.
His constant performances on the junior stage caught the eye of the IPL scouts. While he appeared for trials, it was RR which in the end picked him for ₹1.10 crore on the mega public sale in November.
Thereafter, the teen has had lengthy coaching camps with the franchise in its academy in Nagpur, and ever since bringing him on board, RR ensured that Suryavanshi remained away from the highlight, as that would have been a distraction for him.
After seven video games in the season, his likelihood lastly got here after Sanju Samson missed out because of an harm. “He is a great kid with a really good head on his shoulders. I think he has got a game which is almost 360 degrees. He is courageous and he is brave and you obviously saw that,” Royals spin-bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule stated.
Published – April 20, 2025 06:47 pm IST
