He is the 15-year-old turning heads throughout the cricket world, and Kerry O’Keeffe believes India ought to “roll the cube” on Vaibhav Suryavanshi and decide the teenager in opposition to Australia in subsequent summer season’s blockbuster five-Test series at house.
After changing into the youngest participant purchased in an Indian Premier League public sale in 2024, Suryavanshi greater than justified his $AU195,000 price ticket when he belted a 35-ball century as a 14-year-old in an innings described as “unbelievable” by Nasser Hussain.
The former England captain was effusive in his reward, evaluating his feats to these of Sachin Tendulkar greater than three a long time earlier, when the then 16-year-old made his Test debut for India in 1989 earlier than occurring to make centuries in England and Australia by the tender age of 18.
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Vaibhav Suryavanshi celebrates his half-century. IPL/Twitter
“It’s unbelievable for a 14-year-old to do this,” Hussain mentioned in dialog with Mike Atherton on Sky Sports activities final yr.
“Issues like this do occur in India. You return to after I was rising up and watching the good Sachin Tendulkar emerge on the scene [at 16 years old]. However this even surpasses that.”
Quick ahead to this yr and the eye-catching knocks have continued.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi of India celebrates his under-19 century. ICC through Getty Photos
Now 15, {the teenager} is fourth on the IPL’s main run-scorers record after belting 404 runs at 40.40 throughout 10 innings.
He is additionally placing at 237.64 – simply the best in this yr’s IPL for these in the highest 20 for run scorers. His season has been headlined by a 37-ball 103, which included 5 boundaries and 12 sixes.
Oh, and it included a six off Pat Cummins’ first ball, with the Australian quick bowler the newest to be dealt the harshest of punishments by the boy from Bihar – a area in the north-east of India on the border of Nepal, not essentially recognized for producing worldwide cricketers apart from the good MS Dhoni.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi of Rajasthan Royals performs a shot. Getty
It additionally adopted the primary ball six off Indian spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in April.
A left-hander with unbelievable bat velocity, Suryavanshi is extra David Warner than Sam Konstas.
Relatively than taking part in ingenious photographs and exposing his stumps with ramps and laps, the left-hander stands and delivers.
His timing and stability, together with a head that does not transfer, stand out.
O’Keeffe, whose encyclopaedic information and urge for food to watch and analyse cricketers make him one in all cricket’s most astute judges in the sport, says he is been blown away by {the teenager}’s rise.
“There’s not many gamers that I might keep up until after midnight to watch, however he’s one in all them,” O’Keeffe instructed Huge World of Sports activities. “I discover him mesmerising.
Kerry O’Keeffe. Getty
“There’s one thing about him. I am completely enthralled at what may lie forward for that child.
“I might love him to be a three-format participant.”
Already Suryavanshi’s title is being talked about for greater honours.
Michael Vaughan. Getty
Ian Bishop listed him on the high of the order alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in an alternate Indian XI earlier this week, whereas former England captain Michael Vaughan was in awe of what he was witnessing in latest weeks.
Vaughan mentioned his tender age should not limit his fast rise.
“I feel he is going to go on that T20 journey to Eire,” Vaughan mentioned on the Stick to Cricket podcast.
Rajasthan Royals’ Vaibhav Suryavanshi celebrates after scoring a century. AP
“I might have him in the squad for the England series in the summer season. I completely would. If he was 20, he’d be in the staff. However as a result of he is 15, we are saying, ‘you’ve got obtained to watch out.’
“His first ball [against] Jasprit Bumrah, he simply flicked him straight into the stands for six.”
Vaughan added that Jaiswal, who charges as among the best openers in the world and averages nearly 50 in Test cricket on the age of 24, had been made to look merely OK by his youthful teammate on the Rajasthan Royals.
Yashasvi Jaiswal. Getty
“The new T20 opener is him,” Vaughan mentioned. “Even Jaiswal, who’s been taking part in nice on the different finish, he is at occasions made him look simply OK – and he is excellent.”
Suryavanshi has already learnt from a number of the sport’s greatest gamers, with the prodigious expertise first coming into the Royals arrange underneath Rahul Dravid.
Sri Lankan nice Kumar Sangakkara has since taken over on the Royals.
O’Keeffe, too, contemplated what path India’s nationwide staff would lead him on to start with, however mentioned he was essentially the most gifted batter at his age he had ever seen.
“[Ricky] Ponting was essentially the most superior 15-year-old batter I’ve seen, however this child is a stage above Ponting at 15, and that is why he is so thrilling,” O’Keeffe mentioned.
“It is his stillness at contact. He would not overplay the shot.
Ricky Ponting celebrates his drought-breaking century on the SCG, in opposition to India in January 2012. Getty
“When he hits these sixes over long-on, he is so nonetheless at contact. Most 15-year-olds are attempting to throw the kitchen sink on the ball, [but] he simply hits it for six from a set place. Whether or not that is simply going through a whole lot of balls a day, I do not know, however he is a particular expertise, this child.”
Suryavanshi is not the primary participant to make his title in T20 cricket.
Virtually twenty years in the past Warner burst onto the scene in white ball cricket.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi of Rajasthan Royals appears on earlier than the beginning of the 2025 IPL match between Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Worldwide Cricket Stadium on April 5, 2025, in Mullanpur, Mohali, India. (Picture by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Photos) Getty
Initially pigeonholed as a short-form specialist, a century in Tasmania in opposition to New Zealand in his second Test put an finish to the idea that Warner was merely a hit-and-giggle kind participant.
Like Warner, in addition to West Indian maverick Chris Gayle and former Indian star Virender Sehwag, Suryavanshi’s stability stands out and it is that issue that O’Keeffe believes units him aside.
“Warner was superior, however this child is a stage above once more,” O’Keeffe mentioned.
“He [Warner] performed an innings in Tasmania in opposition to New Zealand. He obtained a century on a seaming pitch, and it simply confirmed you the way balanced he was. Let the ball go, let the ball come to him, and it dispelled any doubt about whether or not he was an all-format participant.
“He was so a lot better technically than anyone in the sport. And it simply satisfied those who they obtained him fallacious. ‘Do not simply see me as a slogger, I am rather more than that.’
“Folks mentioned, ‘Oh, that is simply bravado,’ however he knew his sport, and I feel Suryavanshi has that very same perspective.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi Twitter
“Suryavanshi is the trendsetter in phrases of modern-day, three-format participant. He is seen as only a six-hitter and a boundary hitter, I feel he is greater than that.”
Whereas white ball cricket will dominate India’s schedule this yr, subsequent January and February’s five-Test series in opposition to Australia looms giant on the worldwide schedule.
The series additionally comes slightly greater than a yr after India’s subsequent technology of stars have been left shell-shocked by South Africa on house soil, dropping 2-0.
Kerry O’Keeffe. fox sports activities
Would you rule out Suryavanshi taking part in in opposition to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series?
“I feel he and Jaiswal is perhaps an choice for them on the high,” O’Keeffe mentioned. “I might roll the cube and go Jaiswal, Suryavanshi, [Shubman] Gill at three and [KL] Rahul someplace.”
Ought to that happen, Suryavanshi would nonetheless be 15 – nearly a yr youthful than Tendulkar when he debuted in opposition to Pakistan aged 16 years, 205 days.
Sachin Tendulkar when he debuted in opposition to Pakistan aged 16 years, 205 days. Ben Radford/Getty
O’Keeffe mentioned taking part in positively was nonetheless the simplest means of curbing Australia’s assault, and the previous leg-spinner insisted that Suryavanshi’s free-scoring strategy, the place he has already seen off the likes of Cummins and Josh Hazlewood in the IPL, may show damaging on the high of the order.
“You have obtained to be optimistic in opposition to [Mitchell] Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood,” O’Keeffe mentioned.
“You’ll be able to’t allow them to get into rhythm and this man may trigger actual issues on the high of the order.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi of India waits to take the sector as opening batsman. Getty
“He hit Pat for a six the opposite evening, I noticed. They’re used to folks making an attempt to survive in opposition to them, and this man’s going to counterattack them. It is mouth-watering to ponder that.
“Suryavanshi in opposition to one in all our greatest tempo assaults ever.”
In an period the place million-dollar contracts in franchise cricket are as soon as once more threatening the way forward for the crimson ball sport, O’Keeffe mentioned rising gamers like Suryavanshi may make sure the longest format of the sport thrives into the longer term.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi of Rajasthan Royals play a shot throughout a 2025 IPL match. Getty
“Though they discuss in regards to the leisure stage of T20, he can add that dimension to a five-day check as a result of, like with Warner and other people like that, you need to be there at 11 o’clock to watch him stroll out.
“The way forward for Test cricket might be in of us like him as a result of he can present that leisure stage which you could get in a five-day sport.
“Folks mentioned you possibly can solely get it in a T20 sport, however this child may present it. I want he lived in Mosman or Hurstville.”
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