If you are a sub-editor in a newsroom, your biggest challenge now is: don’t get the spelling of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s surname wrong.
Yes, it’s Sooryavanshi, get it right. Memorise it. Or better still, just copy-paste it so you don’t make the dreaded error in a headline.
And if you are a bowler who operates at the highest level with precision, the challenge for you is quite intimidating; don’t get your length wrong when you bowl to the sensation that is Sooryavanshi.
The boy from Bihar doesn’t care about reputations.
Jasprit Bumrah, one of the greatest fast bowlers ever to have played cricket, found that out the hard way on a rain-soaked night in Guwahati.
When the Rajasthan Royals opener nonchalantly flicked the first ball he faced from the Mumbai Indians icon for a big six, it felt like witnessing a mythical Greek warrior striking down a great adversary with a mighty swing.
The build-up to the IPL clash between the Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals was dominated by the mouthwatering prospect of the 15-year-old locking horns with Bumrah, the most feared fast bowler in cricket.
But when the battle began on Tuesday night, it was Bumrah — and not the youngster— who seemed to feel the burden of the occasion.
The 32-year-old erred in length as Sooryavanshi sent him soaring over the mid-wicket boundary, leaving pundits scrambling for adjectives.
Sooryavanshi’s bat speed is incredible. But what completely leaves you stumped is his fearless approach.
Dale Steyn was at a loss for words after Sooryavanshi’s two sixes in the same over from Bumrah became the defining moment of the Rajasthan Royals’ win over the Mumbai Indians.
“He has created that fear in bowlers’ minds that he is going to hit you for boundaries,” the legendary South African told ESPNcricinfo.
“If you look at that (first) delivery from Bumrah, that’s in the slot, that’s so rare from Bumrah. So even Bumrah, the great Bumrah, is thinking in the back of his mind, ‘don’t get it wrong, because if I get it wrong, this guy is going to hit me for six’.
“If you think like that, more often than not, you actually get it wrong. You can see when he hit him for six, he started to laugh, and it was like ‘I knew it was going to happen if I got it wrong.
“So this kid is not scared. If you are going to miss your length, he is going to hit you out of the ground. It doesn’t matter who you are, Bumrah or any other bowler!”
Yashasvi Jaiswal may have won the man-of-the-match award for his magnificent 77 off 32 balls, but you can’t blame anyone for raving about Sooryavanshi’s 14-ball 39.
The teenager’s annihilation of Bumrah took the pressure off Jaiswal, who went on to set up the Royals’ third straight win of the season.
“It’s amazing to bat with Vaibhav,” Jaiswal said of his opening partner.
“He hit the first ball for a six, and I was like – keep playing your shots. Bumrah is one of the legends, and if he’s scoring off him like this, it’s amazing.”
Sooryavanshi, according to former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan, is ‘destiny’s child’.
“What he is doing at 15 in white-ball cricket, I don’t think we have ever seen anyone do this,” he said on his Facebook page.
“Don’t make this boy wait too long. Give him the Indian team cap. Imagine—this boy can play 20 years of professional cricket. This is scary for bowlers.”
An India cap for Sooryavanshi, who turned 15 only last month, will be the biggest headline act in Indian cricket since a 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar famously made his debut in 1989.
Sooryavanshi loves making headlines. In November, 2024, he became the youngest player at 13 to be picked at the IPL auction.
Last year, the left-hander conjured a magical 35-ball hundred against the Gujarat Titans, the second fastest century in IPL history.
This season, he hasn’t broken any records yet. But it’s his unbreakable spirit that may well define the next phase of this astonishing journey.
Source: Khaleej Times