Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s IPL numbers show a 15-year-old dominating the world’s best bowlers, redefining T20 cricket with unmatched power and presence, writes MARK KEOHANE.
Here are the batting numbers of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the boy wonder bossing the world’s best in the IPL.
Comparisons with Sachin Tendulkar are inevitable, but they are misguided. What is consistent is the phenomenon in the presence of both batters, 37 years apart.
Tendulkar first played for India in Tests and ODIs at 16 years-old in 1989, and played his last international in 2013 after 664 matches. His career spanned 24 years and, across three decades as a Test batsman, he averaged more than 50 in each.
Vaibhav was born in a T20 generation that did not exist when Tendulkar was a teenager. Cricket is a different game.
Comparing IPL and T20 cricket, at any level, to Test cricket is not possible.
The comparison between Tendulkar, the teenager, and Vaibhav, the teenager, is presence and awe. In a world where T20 is king, Vaibhav could play this format exclusively for the next 20 years.
ALSO: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi IPL profile
Tendulkar, the teenage boy wonder, arrived in an era defined by red-ball endurance, technical discipline and time at the crease. The sport he entered is not the sport that exists in T20.
Vaibhav is the most generational batter to emerge in the history of T20 cricket. What he is doing as a teenager has exhausted description. The response when he walks out to bat is expectation. So far, he has met it with complete freedom, unrestrained by caution or outside instruction.
He is a product of the modern game and a perfect fit for it.
Tendulkar’s greatness was built on technical control and mental endurance in facing the best bowlers on green pitches, with attacking fields, where patience defined excellence.
In Tendulkar’s era, the difference between great and very good was the ability to leave a ball.
In this era, what separates Vaibhav from the rest is his ability to hit it.
The IPL is where he announced himself globally, hitting his first ball for six as a 14 year-old last season. And in between scoring the second fastest century in IPL history, and the second fastest half century in IPL history, as the youngest ever, he showcased his batting in South Africa, ahead of the Under-19 World Cup.
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He finished his World Cup preparations with 127 against South Africa Under-19s. His century came in 63 balls and included 10 sixes and eight fours, making him the youngest captain, at 14 years-old, to score a Youth ODI century.
He followed it by dominating the World Cup itself, finishing with 175 in the final against England as India secured the title. His runs came off 80 balls, at a strike rate of 218, and included 15 sixes and 15 fours. He was third batter out, with India’s total on 251, in the 26th over of a 50 over final.
India scored 411 and won the final by 100 runs.
IPL Career Stats
Matches | Runs | Highest | Average | Strike Rate | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s
10 | 374 | 101 | 37.40 | 218.71 | 1 | 2 | 28 | 35
IPL Batting History (Key Innings)
Match | Runs (Balls) | Strike Rate
vs Gujarat Titans | 101 (38) | 265.79
vs Chennai Super Kings | 52 (17) | 305.88
vs Chennai Super Kings | 57 (33) | 172.73
vs Mumbai Indians | 39 (14) | 278.57
vs Gujarat Titans | 31 (18) | 172.22
vs Lucknow Super Giants | 34 (20) | 170.00
Most Sixes in IPL since Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s Debut (Balls Per Six)
Player | Sixes | Balls per Six
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | 35 | 4.88
Suryakumar Yadav | 29 | 10.31
Prabhsimran Singh | 28 | 10.46
Shreyas Iyer | 24 | 10.54
Abhishek Sharma | 23 | 11.39
Yashasvi Jaiswal | 23 | 12.43
Most Sixes Against Jasprit Bumrah in IPL History
Player | Sixes
AB de Villiers | 8
Virat Kohli | 6
JP Duminy | 6
Kieron Pollard | 5
Pat Cummins | 4
Andre Russell | 4
Dinesh Karthik | 3
Marcus Stoinis | 3
Glenn Maxwell | 3
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | 2
vs South Africa U19 (in South Africa)
Match | Runs (Balls)
1st ODI | 11 (12)
2nd ODI | 68 (24)
3rd ODI | 127 (74)
Last 20 Limited-Overs Innings (T20 + ODI)
Match | Runs (Balls) | Format
vs MI | 39 (14) | T20
vs GT | 31 (18) | T20
vs CSK | 52 (17) | T20
vs ENG U19 (Final) | 175 (80) | ODI
vs AFG U19 | 68 (33) | ODI
vs PAK U19 | 30 (22) | ODI
vs ZIM U19 | 52 (30) | ODI
vs NZ U19 | 40 (23) | ODI
vs BAN U19 | 72 | ODI
vs USA U19 | 2 | ODI
vs SCO U19 | 96 (50) | ODI
vs ENG U19 (Warm-up) | 1 (4) | ODI
vs UAE U19 | 171 (95) | ODI
vs AUS U19 | 70 (68) | ODI
vs AUS U19 | 16 (20) | ODI
vs AUS U19 | 38 (22) | ODI
vs ENG U19 | 33 (42) | ODI
vs ENG U19 | 143 (78) | ODI
vs ENG U19 | 86 (31) | ODI
vs ENG U19 | 48 (19) | ODI
Photo: REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary
