MUMBAI— Vaibhav Suryavanshi is only 14 years old, yet he is already one of the most talked-about stars in Indian cricket. This is because he played so well for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2025 season. Fans have been amazed by the left-handed batter’s heroics, which have been called a “sensation.”
Suryavanshi, who was sold at an IPL auction for a record-breaking INR 1.1 crore as the youngest player ever, didn’t spend any time making his imprint. He was selected into the playing XI as an opener to take the place of the injured Sanju Samson. He smashed a six off his very first delivery in the event, which was bowled by Shardul Thakur against the Lucknow Super Giants. This was just a taste of what was to come. A few games later, he set the record for the fastest century by an Indian in IPL history, scoring it in just 35 balls against the Gujarat Titans.
Ravichandran Ashwin, a former India off-spinner who played for the Chennai Super Kings in the same competition, told Sanju Samson on his YouTube channel that he was shocked by Suryavanshi’s maturity and ability to make shots.
“I threw one ball from around the stumps. He played one to the cover. And the next ball I threw was slow… He merely stood there and waited for the ball. Just hit a single through mid-on. I was like, “What the hell, dude?” Ashwin remembered asking, “Where did this guy come from?” He also told a funny story about Jos Buttler making fun of Jofra Archer for being “smashed by a 14-year-old in the nets.”
Samson, who couldn’t play because of an abdominal ailment, also said he liked how hard the little hitter struck the ball. “When he hit the first ball for a six, I thought, “That’s cool.” He got lucky. But he simply kept going on and on. “The quality of shots he was hitting really shocked me,” remarked the captain of the Rajasthan Royals.
In seven games, Suryavanshi scored 252 runs with an average of 36 and a strike rate of 206.56. After the IPL, he kept playing well. He became the youngest player to make a century in a Youth Men’s ODI against England U19 and also took a wicket in a Youth Men’s Test, making him the youngest player to achieve both. The youthful star has now been chosen to play for India in the upcoming multi-format series against Australia U19. He will try to build on his burgeoning reputation there.